Coronation Street spoilers follow.

Dame Maureen Lipman will be taking another break from Coronation Street.

A spokesperson for the ITV1 soap has confirmed to Digital Spy that

Dame Maureen will reprise her role as Evelyn Plummer following some time away from the cobbles.

“Dame Maureen is taking a sabbatical from Coronation Street towards the end of the year.

We look forward to seeing her back on the cobbles in 2025,” a show spokesperson told us.

Dame Maureen’s break will coincide with the esteemed actor performing in

panto — as she has signed on for the Richmond Theatre’s production of Beauty and the Beast.

She will be playing Mrs Potty opposite comedian and magician Pete Firman from Saturday,

December 7, 2024, through Sunday, January 5, 2025.

Tickets are available now from ATG for £13 and up (subject to a transaction fee of £3.95).

Related: Best streaming services 2024 — including Disney Plus, Netflix, iPlayer and Apple TV+

Dame Maureen has taken sporadic breaks from Coronation Street throughout her time on the cobbles, including a temporary departure last year following the arrival of her long-lost daughter Cassie.

At the time of her 2023 break, the actor said she’d been doing some of the most intensive filming of her soap career to set up her departure.

“They’ve really put me through it the last few weeks. I’ve had seven scenes to learn a day,” she recalled. “The last shot [from] last night, I literally laid on the floor and said: ‘I can’t go on’.”

Related: Coronation Street, Emmerdale and EastEnders confirm scheduling changes

Since her return to Weatherfield, Evelyn Plummer was involved in a nasty feud with a dodgy dog breeder and supported Roy Cropper in his recent prison stint.

Dame Maureen joined the ITV1 soap on a full-time basis in 2018 as Tyrone Dobbs’ grandmother, after a prior stint in 2002 playing a different character.

Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.

Read more Coronation Street spoilers on our dedicated homepage