Coronation Street's Maureen Lipman says 'it's hard' as she addresses 'problem' with soap

Dame Maureen Lipman has shed light on the challenges of working on Coronation Street, despite being a fan favourite since her 2018 debut as Evelyn Plummer.

Having graced the cobbles over twenty years ago in a different role, Maureen's character Evelyn has been noticeably absent from recent episodes due to her taking a break from filming.

The esteemed actress has declared she has no plans to retire, insisting she'll "carry on as much as I'm wanted" or until she can't physically continue. Despite relishing her role on the soap, Maureen acknowledges there's a "big problem" with the nature of filming for such a popular ITV series.

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On the 20 Questions podcast, Maureen revealed: "One of the problems of being in a soap, for example, is that because you are doing eight or 10 scenes a day, you read it, you move it, and then you film it. Thank you."

She explained the rapid pace of production, saying: "You might get another crack if something has gone wrong technically, but on the whole, that's it. It's almost like radio but there are cameras there, so you can't do anything. People are just talking heads," reports Belfast Live.

Highlighting the lack of realism, she added: "They're standing there saying, 'Don't you talk to me like that' if it's EastEnders, or, 'I'll have a word with you' if it's Coronation Street, but you know, nobody is picking their nose or scrubbing their sink down while they're talking, or making three martinis – it's all just heads talking. That's not what life is like."

Maureen revealed that she was "picking her phone up" intermittently during her chat with interviewer Matt Stadlen, who was jotting down her words. She remarked: "It's very complicated, a human life – we never just do one thing."

The actress, confessing to being "very bad at continuity", shared an amusing mishap from her first day on the set of Coronation Street.

Maureen recounted: "My first day, I think, on Corrie, I took my coat off – and I'm very bad at continuity, because you have to do the same thing every time. I took my coat off and then I put it on again, and she gently said to me, 'We don't do anything – there's no time to do anything.' But to me, acting is doing, so it's hard."

Boasting an impressive career in acting that kicked off on stage in 1971 with the National Theatre Company, Maureen later transitioned to television, making her debut in the sitcom The Lovers in 1975.

Her breakout role came four years later in the sitcom Agony. In 1987, she landed the part of Beatrice "Beattie" Bellman in the adverts for BT, achieving fame with the iconic "You Got an Ology" advert, which became so popular that people would recite it back to her on the streets.

She even penned a book about the experience.