Coronation Street legend Maureen Lipman engaged as she pops the question

Maureen Lipman
-Credit: (Image: (Image: Getty))


Yorkshire-born Coronation Street star Maureen Lipman has revealed she's set to wed at 78 after having popped the question to boyfriend David Turner on a train.

The Hull-born actress, famed for her portrayal of Evelyn Plummer in the ITV soap, took the leap despite previously being "against the M word" following the loss of her long-term partner Guido Castro, who passed away in January 2021.

Before that, Lipman was married to Corrie scriptwriter Jack Rosenthal until his death in 2004. The proposal came as the couple were returning from the launch of Tom Parker-Bowles' new cookbook, with Dame Maureen making the impromptu decision to ask for David's hand in marriage.

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It came as Maureen realised it was the one day of the year Jewish women can propose. The actress wrote in the Spectator: "Later that night my partner David and I decided to tell our children that, with a combined age of 156, we are going to get married."

"In truth I had been rather against the 'M' word, but on a train coming back from Edinburgh he mentioned that it was the minor festival of Tu B'Av – a day when a Jewish woman can ask a man to marry her."

"Unable to resist the gag, I slid under the table separating us on to one knee and asked him for his hand. To my surprise and slight panic, he gave it."

The bride-to-be broke the news to her family on a very special date, September 8, which would have been the birthday of her late husband Jack Rosenthal.