After staying on the cobbles for 50 years, Helen Worth decided to leave Coronation Street, leaving devastated bosses to fear a second legend could throw in the towel after her.
Helen Worth is bowing out of Coronation Street and one soap boss told fans he doesn’t expect her on-screen family to ever be the same after her departure.
The Gail Platt actress has starred in the ITV soap since 1974, as Audrey Roberts’ bubbly teenage daughter. Gail went on to become a backbone of the program but shocked bosses and fans when she announced her decision to leave Weatherfield. But what kind of repercussions will her departure have on the Street?
Taking to X, in the evening of this Thursday, June 6, TV writer Daran Little – known for his extensive amount of work for both Corrie and BBC One show EastEnders – revealed he didn’t expect Gail’s mother Audrey Roberts to stick around for much longer after Helen’s final scenes.
While he admitted he had “no insider knowledge”, Darran theorised: “My gut feeling is Sue (Nicholls, who portrays Audrey Roberts) won’t want to stay long without Helen. No insider knowledge, just a feeling.”
One of Daran’s followers quickly jumped in and penned in the comment section: “my feeling is corrie is going to be canned or there are huge creative differences between the icons and producers so yes I agree she will be gone too.”
Another suggested: “I wonder if Audrey will go with her or something will happen to Audrey that makes Gail decide to leave or take Audrey with her and they leave together?”
A third questioned: “Heartbreaking but in a way I think I’d prefer if they left together. How do you part the greatest mother-daughter partnership in tv history? Like how do you even begin to write that?”
But while the prolific soap writer has teased another potential exit heartbreak, back in March, 2024, Sue Nicholls left no room for doubt when she seemed to hint that she had no intention of leaving Coronation Street during a chat with soap expert Sharon Marshall on This Morning in the iconic Rovers Return Inn.
“Coronation Street is now my life. I find it easy to come here, I love the people I work with. I love what they give me to do, and I want it to go on”, she notably said.
Speaking about her friendship with on-screen daughter Helen, who is only nine years her junior, Sue added: “I love her to death, I love doing scenes with her. When we fall out [on screen] we don’t fall out, it’s just a true family thing that happens in life.” Could her pal’s departure be enough to convince her to move on?
Helen confirmed her departure in a statement, with Sharon Marshall stating that her exit storyline is due to be “emotional” rather than explosive.
But Daran Little’s suspicion is a strong echo to one theory shared by Jim McDonald actor Charlie Lawson, who believes that more soap legends, from Ken Barlow to Rita Tanner, may be tempted to follow in her footsteps.
“This may be a good or a bad thing but it may start a trend [among the cast]. There are a number of people in Corrie who are… I mean William Roache is over 90, Barbara [Knox] is not far behind, Sue Nicholls, some of these people are getting on”, he recently said.
“As much as we would love to see them die in harness as we say, I would not be surprised and nor would I blame any of them if they’ve done their time that they want to go and have a nice final 20 years of their lives with all the money that they’ve made then so be it!” Will Corrie ever be the same?
