Coronation Street favourite quits soap and 'cast have been informed'

Channique Sterling-Brown is reportedly set to leave Coronation Street. The actress, 28, has starred as lawyer Dee Dee Bailey on the world's longest-running ITV soap since 2022, but is said to be bowing at out some point in the near future.

A source said: "Posters are up around the Corrie set behind the scenes, it is common knowledge that Channique is going, and cast have been informed," reports The Express.

Prior to joining Coronation Street, Channique auditioned for the part of Naomi Waters on fellow ITV soap Emmerdale but but lost out to Karene Peter. She started her career by appearing in a host of short films and worked extensively in theatre across Manchester, where Coronation Street is filmed and set.

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The character has been involved in a number of dramatic storylines over the years, and in recent months, viewers have watched her enter motherhood after giving birth to daughter Laila, who she had villain Joel Deering. But it's been a tricky time for Dee Dee as she had intended to give the little one up and let her brother James adopt her, although she went back and forth on that decision over several weeks.

If Channique is set to depart Weatherfield, she will follow in a long list of residents from the famous backstreet to depart for pastures now. On Wednesday, viewers were in tears as Jenny Connor, played by Sally Ann Matthews, left for Tenerife almost 40 years after her debut. Emotional scenes with former foster mother Rita Tanner (Barbara Knox) played out, and her exit came just months after Daisy Midgeley (Charlotte Jordan) jetted off for sunnier shores after years of drama.

Colson Smith was axed from his role as PC Craig Tinker, and was killed off in a storyline that saw him murdered in the line of duty.

Channique previously noted that she had loved getting the chance to step onto the world-famous cobbles but struggled initially with becoming well-known.

“I’m very grateful for my job at Coronation Street, but it’s a strange thing having a platform when it’s come out of nowhere. Suddenly you get a role onTV and it changes your life,” she said.

“I’m not a perfect person, I’m just a girl from Manchester, but I think it’s my responsibility to use this profile I’ve got through Coronation Street to help and care for others.

“I feel grateful to be able to do that. These people might be on the other side of the world, but it’s about spreading the love.”

Fans of Dee Dee, the big-hearted lawyer, who came to the cobbles in 2022 as part of the Bailey clan – the first black family on the street - may feel these words have come straight from her mouth.

Like Dee-Dee, off-screen Channique is a committed Christian and was approached by Tearfund, a Christian charity that partners with churches in 50 of the world’s poorest countries, last year and invited to be an ambassador.

She said: “I loved the sound of a charity that was focussed on reaching people, teaching them, equipping them and empowering them. I loved the fact that it was through the church too.”

Coronation Streetairs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX. *

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