Coronation Street legend Sue Devaney has opened up on her forthcoming exit from the soap, as her character Debbie Webster struggles with early-onset vascular dementia. Debbie was diagnosed in April 2025, and the storyline will ultimately lead to Devaney’s departure.
In a new interview, the former Dinnerladies favourite opened up about leaving the show, vowing to “make the most” of the time she has left on the job.
“I think when an actor gets to a certain age they think, ‘This is quite nice. I can go home every night, I can have my tea, I’m not living out of a suitcase.’ And it’s nice to have a regular wage, because as an actor you never know what’s next,” she told BANG Showbiz (via Female First).
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“So as you get older you think, ‘This is quite nice.’ But if it’s not to be, it’s not to be.
“It’s only in soap where you think, ‘I’ve got a job for a while.’ But we never know when it’s going to come to an end, or the character is going to be killed off, so you just have to make the most of it.”
Asked if she knows what her final episodes entail, she admitted: “I don’t know, and I don’t like to know. I think it’s nice to just get the scripts and just play along with it.”
Scenes next week will see Debbie finally losing patience with her troublesome son Carl, as the build-up to the upcoming mystery murder intensifies.
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Carl is one of five characters identified as possible victims of the shock twist, which will air later this month. The others are Jodie Ramsey, Maggie Driscoll, Megan Walsh and Theo Silverton.
After reaching the end of her tether with Carl, Debbie will be seen telling him that he won’t be getting his hands on her business, but she will give him cash if he leaves Weatherfield forever and never contacts her again.
It’s been a big month all-round on the soap, as a special episode earlier this week saw Todd Grimshaw finally report his partner Theo to the police after suffering months of domestic abuse.
Fans hailed the episode as a “masterpiece” after it aired, with heavy praise coming in for Gareth Pierce, who plays Todd, and Vicky Myers, who portrays DS Lisa Swain.
Coronation Street airs on weeknights at 8.30pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.
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