Coronation Street star Sue Cleaver has revealed that she’s set to return to the ITV soap next month, following a break to take on a new theatre role.

The actress, 60, who has played Eileen Grimshaw since 2000, made the decision to step away to focus on more theatre work after landing a role touring in Sister Act, the musical.

And speaking to OK!, Sue revealed she is set to make a return in July: ‘I’ve finished Sister Act but I’m missing everybody hugely. I had the most wonderful time doing that show – I hadn’t been on stage for 30 years.

‘I just thought, “I’m going to embrace this, I’m going to do it”. Even though I was scared and even though it was the unknown, I thought ‘nope, this is fabulous. Let’s just go for this’ and I did.’

She continued: ‘I definitely think I’ll do more on stage. The stage is where I started. Theatre’s always been my first love. Now I’ve been back, that’s not going to be my last. But I’ll be heading back to Coronation Street soon.

+8
View gallery

Coronation Street star Sue Cleaver has revealed that she’s set to return to the ITV soap next month, following a break to take on a new theatre role

+8

View gallery

The actress, 60, who has played Eileen Grimshaw since 2000, made the decision to step away to focus on more theatre work after landing a role touring in Sister Act, the musical

‘I’m having a little holiday and then I will be heading back into Corrie in July so they can see me back there. I will be back.’

It comes after Sue revealed she’s ‘come out from hiding away’ after unveiling her incredible transformation, as she shared insight into her three-stone weight loss on Lorraine.

The actress has been showcasing her slimmer frame as a result of being ‘seriously ill’ last year as well as giving up alcohol .

Sue told Lorraine that after turning 60 she’s decided this decade ‘is for her,’ and she wants to embrace ‘going out and having fun.’

She sad: ‘I feel very much on a journey. I brought my son up and my priority was always my son. And then I thought as soon as he’s gone, it’s my time. This is my decade. So he’s gone – he is 28 now. I love you Elliott but don’t come back.’

‘So now I just decided, I have hit 60, this decade is for me.

‘And I am going to have fun. I am going to do what I want to do and I am going to come out from hiding away and just being this mum who was very like ”this is my main priority”, and I just want to do things that are fun. It started with me going into the jungle.’

Sue is set to star in the touring stage production of Sister Act, and has taken a short break from Corrie to appear in the show.

Asked whether she’ll return to the soap, she said: ‘I have a few months grace off Corrie to do this show then I’ll be straight back in there. I think George and Eileen should have a big Corrie wedding.’

Sue had previously shared that after completing dry January she decided to give up booze all together.

+8
View gallery

Sue said: ‘I’m having a little holiday and then I will be heading back into Corrie in July so they can see me back there. I will be back.’

She said: ‘I lost 18lb [in I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here]. I’d already lost a stone and a half that year, because I gave up booze. I did Dry January and then I decided to carry on.

‘I know it sounds ridiculous at my age, but I never really thought about how many calories I was consuming when I was having a glass of red wine while cooking dinner and then a couple more while eating it.

‘If you’re doing that four or five nights a week, that’s a lot of calories.’

Last year, Sue admitted she ‘over-did red wine’ during the pandemic and piled on the pounds,’ which inspired her to give it up.

Despite her Corrie character Eileen Grimshaw spending a lot of time in The Rovers, she admitted that pubs are her ‘idea of hell.’

Speaking Kaye Adams on her How to be 60 podcast, Sue said: ‘In the pandemic we all over-did things. I spent a lot of it drinking lots of lovely red wine and I put on a lot of weight doing it.

‘Then I did dry January and I thought. ‘I wonder what life would be like if I stopped completely?”

The actress added her husband Brian Owen, shares different views and ‘love pub culture.’

‘It was my idea of hell when I drank and especially now that I don’t drink,’ she said.

In January, Sue revealed she felt ‘shamed and judged’ before losing three stone.

Appearing as a guest panellist on Loose Women , the soap star revealed she has been treated differently while at different weights.

+8

Sue told Lorraine that after turning 60 she’s decided this decade ‘is for her,’ and she wants to embrace ‘going out and having fun’

She explained: ‘My weight has been up down all over the place and most of it was helped by red wine.

‘At the minute I am a lot thinner but I’ve been ill this year and for some reason my metabolism seems to have changed and because I’m not drinking. But I have been the other way and I might go back the other way.’

Sue continued: ‘What I hate about it is the shame that is attached to being a bigger person. The judgments made, quite often from other women.

‘I find it really hard to take We’re not stupid, we know we’re big, we know we have a problem, we know we have an addiction, don’t treat us like we are idiots.

‘Other women are shocking at it. It’s so in us. Examples are when I’ve lost weight I go into a room and someone goes ‘oh my god, you look amazing, you’ve lost weight’ all I will hear is ‘you looked like an absolute dog when you were big’.

‘It’s how we talk about it that makes a big difference.’

Last year, Sue insisted she’s ‘not obsessed over diets’ as she reflected on the unfair expectations placed on women while covering the March issue of Prima magazine.

She declared she would never promote any weight-related products as women have ‘enough difficulties as it is’.

On not being embroiled in diet culture Sue told the publication: ‘I lost some weight in the jungle, but I’m not obsessing over diets : life is hard enough!

‘There’s always going to be outside pressure and unfair expectations placed on women, but I refuse to get pulled into it.

‘That’s why I’ll never promote anything weight-related, and it’s why I’d always rather compliment somebody on their smile or their outfit, rather than their weight.’

She continued: ‘Let’s just let women be women – we have enough difficulties and struggles as it is.’

+8
View gallery

Sue previously said: ‘I lost 18lb [in I’m A Celebrity]. I’d already lost a stone and a half that year, because I gave up booze. I did Dry January and then I decided to carry on (pictured)

+8
View gallery

+8
View gallery

In January, Sue revealed she felt ‘shamed and judged’ before losing three stone (pictured at the time of speaking in January 2024 left and in 2005 right)

It comes after Sue warned her followers after diet companies used her image without consent while claiming she had lost weight using their gummies.

She alerted her 148,000 Instagram followers to the scam, apologising to anyone who had believed she was promoting it.

In the clip, she shared: ‘I’m really, really sad that I have to actually make this video. But, I’ve had quite a lot of messages over the last couple of weeks asking me about… keto dummies.

‘There is obviously some scam going around saying that I lost weight using keto gummies. Dummies? I dunno. Well, it’s c**p. It’s a scam. And if you’ve been taken in by it, I am so, so sorry.’

‘It’s outrageous. And I just want you to know that I would never, ever, ever advocate anything like that. I’m absolutely incensed.

‘Yes, I lost some weight last year. I stopped drinking and I went in the jungle. Yes, I have lost weight this year. But not from any diet.’

Sue went on to reveal that she had ‘women’s health issues’ which contributed to the weight loss, concluding: ‘Life’s too short to worry about dieting and finding quick fixes. Just be happy with yourself.’