Coronation Street character hits 'self-destruct' as Gail Platt exit 'devastates' star

One Coronation Street character is set to hit the 'self-destruct' button in upcoming scene before the exit of Gail Platt. The beloved matriarch will soon be saying goodbye to Weatherfield.

Actress Helen Worth announced she was stepping back from her long-running role in the summer after 50 years in the role. It was said at the time that her final scenes would air by the end of 2024 in an emotional goodbye to the iconic character.

Confirming the reason behind her exit, Helen said in a statement: "This year felt like the perfect time to leave the show after celebrating 50 years in the most wonderful job on the most wonderful street in the world. I made the decision at the start of the year and spoke to the producers who were very kind and understanding."

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Helen has since filmed her final scenes last month ahead of her departure before the end of the year, but fans still don't know exactly how she will be exiting the show. However, a wedding has now been teased after Gail reconnected with Jesse Chadwick and popped the question after she suffered a heart attack.

Teasing what's to come this festive season as Gail prepares for a Christmas farewell, Corrie producer Kate Brooks teased to the Manchester Evening News and other press: "It's a very lively Christmas on the street, lots of bombshells are dropped. Obviously, this is set against Gail Platt's wedding... Whether she goes through with that or not, I cannot tell anything.

"But this is a story with the Platts at the heart of it, it’s really festive, basically it’s a story about family and how secrets impact and implode on a family, so there’s a lot of betrayals, lots of secrets are exposed during this episode and it will like classic Corrie with a bit of a twist.

"I think we’re all in need of a bit of escapism at the minute and we’ve had quite a dark but brilliant few months on the cobbles. The Xmas period for us is all about trying to tap into the family dynamics of the Platts, what makes people tick and ultimately trying to make sure that we give glorious Gail the exit that she deserves."

Kate continued: "She’s been such an icon on the street for such a long time - 50 years of television, which is amazing - and we can’t tell a story on Christmas Day about her exit without it feeling and being steeped in nostalgia, and there’s tons of nostalgia in this episode and hopefully people will be crying, they’ll be laughing, there’ll be gasps as people watching it go, ‘Oh my goodness, that’s just happened'.

"But yeah, old school Corrie but just with a real modern twist and I think people will really really enjoy it. I want people to sit down Christmas night with a full tummy, watch this episode, watch Christmas Day and go ‘You know what, that is exactly what I needed’ so that’s what Corrie is this Christmas."

But it sounds like there is plenty more happening for the Platts amidst Gail's exit. "For me, what’s so brilliant about it, you’ve got the Platts at the heart of it," Kate teased.

"You’ve got David and Shona, David has made massive mistakes in hiding visiting orders from Clayton and this goes on to have massive consequences and Shona hits that self destruct behaviour [in the run-up to Christmas], and makes some really terrible judgement calls, but what is important for me about David and Shona is that they can both really mess up but that love that they have is so strong. But can they overcome that? I don’t know.

"But all those secrets come to the forefront on Christmas Day, so you basically have Gail, who’s going to leave the street, in the run-up to Xmas she has found out that some of her nearest and dearest have absolutely betrayed her, she doesn’t know who to believe, even her dear old mum [Audrey Roberts] has kind of lied to her and she really struggles with that and she’s a bit like, ‘I don’t know whether I want this, I don’t know whether I want to be with Jesse’.

"She contemplates and questions everything and every decision she’s ever made, and obviously Gail has had a really colourful past so that’s a big part of that Christmas self-destructDay episode, but she is there and she is going to leave the street and it’s going to be so wonderful and sad."