Claire Sweeney steps away from Coronation Street for big TV role with soap icons

**Claire Sweeney plays Cassie Plummer on the soap (Picture: ITV)**

According to reports, Claire Sweeney has taken a leave of absence from her role as Coronation Street’s Cassie Plummer.

The 53-year-old actress, who rose to fame in the defunct Channel 4 serial opera Brookside as Lindsey Corkhill, joined the cast of Cobbles last year as Tyrone Dobbs’ (Alan Halsall) estranged mother Cassie.

Evelyn Plummer (Maureen Lipman), her mother, intended to hide her existence in Weatherfield as she battled a drug addiction, but in typical Corrie fashion, everything was soon made public.

She clashed with Abi Webster (Sally Carman) in recent months and managed to get a position at Kevin’s (Michael Le Vell) garage; it seems she has a thing for the mechanic!

But as she shoots The Good Ship Murder’s second season, which also stars Catherine Tyldesley and Shayne Ward from Corrie, Claire is stepping aside from the cobbles.

In the murder mystery series on Channel 5, Claire portrays manager Beverley Carnell.

Chaos-loving Cassie made her way to Weatherfield, where she introduced herself as Tyrone’s mother. Tyrone was shocked by this since he had always assumed his biological mother had passed away.

Tyrone made the decision to get to know Cassie despite her secrets and falsehoods, but it wasn’t simple.

But over the last several months, Cassie has gradually revealed to her family that, despite her faults, she values her ties with her loved ones above all else.

This transpires subsequent to Claire signing a contract for an additional year on Coronation Street. “I’ve just signed my contract for another year in Corrie and I’m really happy to fully invest all of my time and energy into Cassie and see what develops,” she said in an interview with Cheshire Life Magazine.

“The acting scenes I recently completed in Coronation Street with Dame Maureen Lipman in the Rovers and with Alan Halsall and Jennie McAlpine in the Dobbs household have made me very happy.”