As one of Coronation Street’s most beloved stalwarts, Eileen Grimshaw has seen it all with dodgy boyfriends, dramatic exits, surprise returns and that famous tardis-like house on the cobbles. But now, after more than two decades in Weatherfield, actress Sue Cleaver is stepping away from the iconic role.
In an interview ahead of her exit, Sue opens up about Eileen’s bittersweet goodbye, the internal conflict that’s driven her storyline in recent weeks, and why George just wasn’t the one.
For Sue, the current storyline has been bubbling under the surface for some time, a quiet emotional tug-of-war about what Eileen really wants from life and love. “I think she has had such bad experiences with men,” Sue admits. “And George was kind, and he was comfortable, so she stuck with him.”
But as viewers have seen, it took a familiar face to plant the seed of doubt. “Julie was saying to her, ‘Look, are you sure he’s the one? Life is so short.’ And Eileen started to ask herself that: ‘Am I just settling?’ It’s not like they’ve been together 20 years, where you might expect that sort of comfort. It’s still quite new. And Julie’s voice was in her ear saying, ‘You’re not in love with him. He’s not making your heart sing.’”
Reflecting on Eileen’s often chaotic home life, with the constant flow of crises and cups of tea, Sue says her character has rarely paused to ask what she really wants.
“Everybody’s always come before her. She’s looked after so many people and is still looking after so many people. She’s neglected her own needs in a way,” Sue says. “Now she’s thinking: ‘What have I done with my life? Where am I? What do I want?’ It’s that moment of reflection that creeps up on you.”
It’s a theme that resonates with Sue personally, too. “We’ve got to have more faith in ourselves, especially when we get to that point in life when the kids are gone and society’s kind of done with us, or thinks it is. We have to push back against that,” she says. “It’s never too late to reinvent yourself. You don’t need to do it all at once; it’s just little tiny steps every day. That’s where bravery comes from. And that’s the journey I’m on. Eileen, in a sense, is mirroring that. She’s stepping into the unknown.”
“The Final Scene… That’s When It Hit Me”
Though the scenes were filmed out of order, Sue admits that her final days on set were unexpectedly emotional, not least because of the people she’s worked with for so long. “We take people for granted, they’re just there, and then suddenly it’s like, ‘That’s it.’ I had a lovely dinner with the Grimshaws and the street car boys after that last Eileen scene, but I was back in the next day doing other bits. It was surreal.”
In typical Sue fashion, her final wrap was quiet, understated, and exactly as she wanted. “I don’t like goodbyes. I made sure it was at the end of the day so there weren’t loads of people around. I had to catch a train to London for work the next day, so when I woke up in the hotel on Saturday morning, it was just… done. That was it.”
As for watching her final moments on screen? “Yes, I will watch it,” Sue says. “It’s the end of a chapter of my life.” But don’t count Eileen out just yet. “I’m never going to feel far away. My husband still works there, I’ve got too many friends. So who knows – maybe one day she’ll bob back.”
Coronation Street continues Wednesday at 8PM on ITV1