![\"Tracy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/tracy-shaw.png\")
<\/p>\nTracy Shaw was reduced to tears on Wednesday after missing a crucial breast cancer appointment when she spent 45 minutes circling the car park at Royal Berkshire Hospital without finding a single space.<\/p>\n
The 53-year-old, best remembered for her portrayal of Maxine Peacock in the long-running ITV soap Coronation Street, shared her distress with followers in an emotional Instagram story recorded from her vehicle.<\/p>\n
Ms Shaw, who discovered a lump in her breast earlier this year and received a cancer diagnosis in April, had arrived at the hospital with time to spare.<\/p>\n
Despite arriving with time to spare, the actress was ultimately unable to attend the appointment.<\/p>\n
The former soap star recently completed her fourth cycle of chemotherapy as she continues treatment<\/p>\n
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In her tearful video, Ms Shaw told followers: “I rang them and they said because it was the first appointment, they’re not sure [if] the doctor can see me now.” <\/p>\n
When staff suggested she try parking on nearby streets, the actress said the chances of finding a space were extremely slim.<\/p>\n
“Everyone who knows, [or] comes to Royal Berkshire [Hospital], knows there’s a real problem for finding a space,” she added. <\/p>\n
“The anxiety it’s brought up is horrendous and the one appointment I’m looking forward to having, I couldn’t make.”<\/p>\n
![\"Tracy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790283729_538_tracy-shaw.png\")
The actress has been undergoing chemotherapy as doctors wait to see whether her tumours shrink enough for surgery<\/p>\n
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Ms Shaw explained she had nobody available to give her a lift, as her son Luca has returned to university. <\/p>\n
She noted this was not an isolated incident, revealing she was once 45 minutes late for chemotherapy due to the same issue. <\/p>\n
The appointment will now need to be rescheduled.<\/p>\n
The actress completed her fourth cycle of chemotherapy last month and has been closely monitoring her condition.<\/p>\n
![\"Tracy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/tracy-shaw.jpg\")
Maxine Peacock became one of Coronation Street’s memorable characters during Shaw’s time on the cobbles<\/p>\n
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However, the actress revealed in August that surgery is not currently an option, as her tumours need to reduce in size before an operation can be considered.<\/p>\n
Following an ultrasound examination, she shared her disappointment that the treatment had not produced the results she had hoped for. <\/p>\n
“I thought they’d shrunk, but basically they’ve gone from being circular to oval but not really shrunk in size,” she said. <\/p>\n
A separate lump discovered on her right breast turned out to be benign cysts, which Ms Shaw described as positive news.<\/p>\n
She expressed frustration at the gap between what her body had endured through chemotherapy and the limited visible progress.<\/p>\n
“I think I’m just expecting some results of what I’ve felt, some results of what the body has had to go through too!” she said.<\/p>\n
The ITV star first appeared on Coronation Street in 1995, joining the cast as Maxine, the close friend of Angela Griffin’s character Fiona Middleton.<\/p>\n
Her character’s storylines included a betrayal of Fiona through a one-night stand with Steve McDonald, and a marriage to butcher Ashley Peacock, portrayed by Steven Arnold. <\/p>\n
![\"Tracy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/tracy-shaw.webp\")
Maxine was ultimately killed off in dramatic fashion, bludgeoned with a crowbar by Richard after returning home from the pub.<\/p>\n
A year after her Coronation Street debut, Ms Shaw was named Rear of the Year. <\/p>\n
She also ventured into music in 1998, putting out two singles: Ridin’ High and a rendition of Lonnie Gordon’s Happenin’ All Over Again.<\/p>\n
Since departing the cobbles, Ms Shaw has taken on smaller parts in ITV dramas but has primarily focused on theatre work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tracy Shaw was reduced to tears on Wednesday after missing a crucial breast cancer appointment when she spent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":781463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[830,96,59,50,2331,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-781462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-celebrity","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-news","tag-sgg","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=781462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/781463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}