Beverley Callard says coronavirus has delayed her Coronation Street exit

Beverley Callard has revealed the coronavirus pandemic has delayed her Coronation Street exit.

The actress, 63, has played feisty pub landlady Liz McDonald since 1989 and announced her decision to leave the soap last year.

Callard said her final scenes were due to air in July but her departure – and her exit story line – has been changed by the health crisis.

During an appearance on Mark Curry’s Conversations With… podcast, she said her plans to join the Thunder Girls play have been delayed so she can have an extended stay on the Corrie cobbles.

Callard said: “So what we’ve done now is postpone that for a year, so I’m going to be staying a little bit long in Weatherfield.

“But I can’t tell you how and I can’t tell you why. But I’ve not filmed my leaving yet so it’s all very exciting. Now, I don’t know how she’s going to leave, how Liz is going to leave. But I believe it’s not coronavirus-related.”

Callard admitted she did have a “vague idea” of how Liz would leave Weatherfield before those plans were upended by the virus.

However, “it’s all changed now”, she said.

Coronation Street resumed filming earlier this month following a two-and-a-half-month break enforced by the pandemic.

In response to the virus, older cast members are not back on set and kissing scenes have been banned.

And during filming at Corrie’s studios in Trafford, Greater Manchester, cast and crew have their temperatures checked on a daily basis.