CORONATION Street's Evelyn Plummer has gone on an extended holiday as Maureen Lipman takes a break from the soap.
The 74-year-old actress has played the outspoken character in the ITV soap since August 2018.
But speaking to the , Maureen revealed she is taking "a bit of a sabbatical" from Weatherfield while she waits for her Covid-19 vaccination.
Discussing how she has handled the last year and the various lockdowns, Maureen said: "Well it's been a time that I personally can't complain about, except on behalf of the people who haven't been as fortunate, because I continued in Coronation Street after the first initial lockdown.
"I went back. I'm still officially working on it, except that I'm taking a bit of a sabbatical until I get my vaccination at the moment."
Maureen previously revealed in January during an appearance on Steph's Packed Lunch that she had had her vaccination.
However, she didn't confirm if she was on her first or second dose.
She said at the time: "I had my jab yesterday. It was so efficient and so quick, and I didn't feel a thing."
Maureen also spoke about her appearance on Celebrity Gogglebox last year while on the podcast.
Maureen had taken part in the special episode alongside Gyles Brandreth but admitted: "They kindly allowed me to be engulfed by Gyles Brandreth on the Gogglebox series.
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"I had no idea what that was until I got into it. I thought I was going to be a sort of pundit.
"I've always admired that genre but in actual fact it was basically looking at willies."
Coronation Street airs on ITV on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.