Coronation Street icon Sue Devaney reveals she would have stayed on soap for life ahead of character's tragic storyline

Sue Devaney has revealed that she had no intentions of leaving Coronation Street prior to being handed a tragic young-onset dementia storyline for her alter ego Debbie Webster.

The star, who first appeared on the cobbles for a year from 1984, returned to the role in 2019. She was reinstated as a permanent cast member the following year, and has since become one of the ITV soap's most beloved characters.

It was recently revealed by co-star Jonathan Howard, who plays on-screen son Carl, that this Christmas will be Debbie's last. Devaney will finish filming in August 2027.

"I've just got the scripts for the Christmas, and it does feel like it's going to be the last Christmas with my mum, you know," the actor revealed to Radio Times at this year's Inside Soap Awards.

"And it's going to be really sad, just for me as an actor. It's going to be really, really sad. She's held my hand since I started. She's got so much love and so much light. [She's] so, so talented.

"It's going to be very different if I'm still here when when Debbie goes. If Carl's still in on the street, then it's going to be really, really different to not have not have Sue Devaney on set every day."

In a new interview with The Sun, Devaney has revealed that she planned to see out the rest of her career on The Street.

"When I came I was 16. Coming back to Corrie, I thought: 'This is nice. I could end my career on Corrie, and I’d be very happy'," she explained.

"As an actor I’m probably gonna be here until next year. So you’ve got a year’s work. Well, for any actor, that’s amazing.

"So it’s like, if somebody said when I were doing theatre, or you’ve got a theatre job for a year, you don’t think, 'Oh, I’m gonna think about after that’. I know it’s coming to an end, but you just think it’s a year. What happens after a year? I don’t know what I’m doing after I’ve done where I am. Nobody knows, we just have to make the best of every day, don’t we?'

A mass public outcry saw fans petitioning for the storyline to be reversed, with Devaney reflecting on the response during an interview with Radio Times earlier this year.

"When I was first in it, I think it was for nine or ten months, and then obviously the actor (Peter Armitage), who was playing our dad, wanted to move to Australia," she began.

"So they thought 'Right, well, we'll write the family out apart from Kev.' And then I never thought that they'd invite me back about three times, but I was always working.

"When they invited me back in 2019, I was doing Calendar Girls: The Musical. So I came back to do six episodes and they invited me back for the 60th [anniversary]. I thought it was going to be about three months and then Debbie was going to die then."

"It's now been five or six years."

Read more:

• Coronation Street star teases Debbie Webster's tragic final Christmas in Weatherfield as dementia story edges close to end
• Coronation Street favourite Vicky Myers reflects on Alison King's 20 years with soap amid huge night for Swarla fans

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