Coronation Street resident abruptly leaves Weatherfield after 26 years – leaving loved ones stunned
ONE of the residents of Coronation Street is set to abruptly leave Weatherfield after 26 years.
The long-running ITV soap is facing major cutbacks as dozens of staff are set to lose jobs.
Up to 75 staffers are set to depart the company as the commercial network has slashed the number of episodes of Coronation Street and Emmerdale.
The cuts will be made across the cast, crew and writers as redundancy talks are now underway.
So far huge cast members are either leaving or have left the soap after legendary soap star Helen Worth departed in December.
Sue Cleaver, Colson Smith, Charlotte Jordan and Sue Devaney will all step back from their roles.
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However, it seems the next character whose scenes will apparently be slashed is Dev Alahan.
Actor Jimmi Harkishin, 59, first joined the cobbles in 1999 playing the bumbling corner shopkeeper.
However, he is set to seemingly depart the soap for the time being after his character will receive some bad news.
He will tell Bernie (Jane Hazlegrove) that his Aunt Gita has had a fall and he needs to go abroad.
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Dev is set to tell his partner that he has to fly to India to help his family.
But in a bombshell announcement, he says that he would like Bernie to accompany him.
The question is, what will she say in response?
Meanwhile, Dev also has to think of his businesses as he books his tickets.
He owns both the Kebab shop and the corner shop at the end of the street.
Keeping it in the family, he will agree to let his 19-year-old son Aadi (Adam Hussain) keep watch.
Corrie cash crisis: shock exits for 2025
ITV bosses are locked in a battle to save the cash-strapped soap.
This means that a number of stars have either been axed from or have abandoned the long-running serial drama.
Colson Smith - Craig Tinker
The character of Craig Tinker has been axed by bosses after 14 years. After he was told of the news in Autumn 2024, Colson Smith confirmed that would be written out of the show with scenes to air later this year. Craig's on-screen mum, Beth Tinker, also left the show in the summer when actress Lisa George was written out from the role.
Sue Cleaver - Eileen Grimshaw
After 25 years playing Eileen Grimshaw, former I'm A Celebrity campmate Sue Cleaver will quit the show. The Sun on Sunday reported in January that she's already begun to film her exit scenes. However the character will not be killed off in case Sue opts to make a return in the future.
Luca Toolan - Mason Radcliffe
Bosses decided to axe the teenage character after just 16 months after he first joined the show. Recent scenes saw Mason stabbed by his criminal brothers after his pal Dylan brought a knife in an attempt to defend him.
Sue Devaney - Debbie Webster
In November 2024, we revealed that Debbie Webster is set to be killed off after 40 years on the cobbles. The character will die as part of a heartbreaking long-running dementia storyline.
Charlotte Jordan - Daisy Midgeley
The actress became the fifth star to leave Coronation Street in just one month. We revealed that she will bow out of the ITV soap later this year after four years on-screen. Charlotte told sources that she's hungry to see what other opportunities await.
Shelley King - Yasmeen Metcalfe
The actress has played Yasmeen Metcalfe on the cobbles for the past 11 years and we revealed in January that she finished filming her final scenes. This follows the departure of her on-screen partner Stu Carpenter.
This comes as ITV boss Kevin Lygo spoke about the shock cutbacks to the soap.
He said: “This new commissioning pattern will mean five hours of soaps a week, rather than the current six.
“We are conscious this will have an impact for the people who work on the soaps team.
“We will support our colleagues in ITV Studios as they work through these changes, and will do what we can to mitigate the impact on our people."
He went on: “These changes are motivated by doing what we believe is best for the continuing success of these important programmes in the long term.
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“They also create headroom in the overall programme budget for investment in programming that can help ITV grow reach in a very very competitive market.”
Coronation Street continues on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.