She Wrecks Everything!

TV legend Maureen Lipman on how her new battleaxe character is about to turn Corrie upside down…

- Claire Crick

NEW SOAP

Coronation Street

MON, WED, FRI / ITV / 7.30PM, 8.30PM

There’s no doubt about it, Maureen Lipman is a busy woman. While in the middle of writing a script for her one-woman show at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, entitled Maureen Lipman is ‘Up for It’, she got the call inviting her to join the cast of Coronation Street as Tyrone Dobbs’ formidable grandmother…

And with this year marking her half-a-century in show business, multitalented Maureen, 72, could be forgiven for thinking about winding down – but she tells TV Times that putting her feet up couldn’t be further from her mind…

A happy surprise

‘Coronation Street came all of a sudden,’ reveals Maureen, who became a household name thanks to her hit sitcom Agony, movie roles in Educating Rita and The Pianist, among others – and, of course, those infamous British Telecom adverts. ‘I was just about to learn my script for the Edinburgh show, so I sped up to Manchester and took my learning with me, and before I knew it I was frantically filming.’