Helen Worth leaving 'Coronation Street' after 50 years

“Coronation Street” actor Helen Worth is leaving her role as the Platt family matriarch after 50 years on Britain’s longest-running television show.

“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,” the 73-year-old actor said in a statement from network ITV. “I made the decision at the start of the year and spoke to the producers who were very kind and understanding.”

As filming begins on her final scenes as Gail Rodwell, ITV called Worth’s upcoming departure “a major storyline for the Platt family.” Those scenes will air this fall.

Worth’s decades-long tenure on the show — on which she started as the character Gail Potter and by marriage ran through the surnames Tilsley, Platt, Hillman, McIntyre and Rodwell — has run more than 4,450 episodes. Gail saw “Coronation Street” through some of its most exciting and controversial plotlines.

The actor’s first years on the show featured Gail’s messy teen years, including losing her virginity to a married man. In 1998, “Coronation Street” viewers were introduced to Hayley Cropper, the first transgender character ever to appear on British television. That was topped in 2000 by backlash when Gail’s daughter, 13-year-old Sarah Louise Platt, became pregnant. Gail’s marital mishaps even sparked a power surge when a record 17 million fans tuned in to watch her homicidal husband Richard Hillman (Brian Capron) commit murder.

Worth’s career was a lauded one — she received a lifetime achievement honor at the 2014 British Soap Awards and was nominated for a “must-see moment” BAFTA in 2019. Executive producer Ian Macleod called Worth’s “Coronation Street” performance “legend,” adding that she had thoroughly cemented herself as “one of the Corrie greats.”

“Gail has given us countless hours of entertainment,” Macleod said in ITV‘s statement. “Everyone connected to the show will miss having her around the place just as much as the viewers will miss having her on their screens.”

Hundreds of fans flocked to the comments on an Instagram post bidding the star farewell to share their heartfelt surprise and sadness. “Corrie without Gail is…incomprehensible. Surely this calls for a national bank holiday?” one user asked.

Some lamented character Gail’s five marriages, all of which ended in divorce or death. “Let her finally have a happy ending, please!” a fan urged the network.

A day prior to Worth’s news, actor Alex Bain announced on the “Coronation Street” Instagram that he would be leaving the show after 16 years in the role of Simon Barlow.

Fans shared how “Coronation Street” had stayed with them over generations as they faithfully watched actors like Bain onscreen.

“He came on the show when I was 13, now I’m 28,” a fan wrote. Bain’s castmate Jane Danson commented that it was the “end of an era.”

Meanwhile, Worth expressed a sense of disbelief that her half-century run was nearing its end.

“I have been truly blessed to have been given the most incredible scripts week in week out, and to have worked with fantastic actors, directors and a brilliant crew,” she said in the statement. “The past 50 years have flown by and I don’t think the fact that I am leaving has quite sunk in yet.”