Coronation Street's Gail Platt actress Helen Worth quits soap after 50 years

Long-standing Coronation Street actress Helen Worth has quit the soap after over 50 years on the cobbles.

According to Metro, the on-screen favourite, 73 - famed for playing Gail Platt in the Manchester soap - will begin filming her final storyline next week, and is set to depart the show later this year.

"This year felt like the perfect time to leave the show after celebrating 50 years in the most wonderful job on the most wonderful street in the world," Corrie veteran Helen told fans in a statement.

"I made the decision at the start of the year and spoke to the producers who were very kind and understanding.

"I have been truly blessed to have been given the most incredible scripts week in week out, and to have worked with fantastic actors, directors and a brilliant crew.

"The past 50 years have flown by and I don’t think the fact that I am leaving has quite sunk in yet."

Helen alongside on-screen mum Sue Nicolls, who plays Audrey Roberts. (ITV)

Helen first joined the ITV northern soap back in 1974, for which she subsequently received a British Soap Award for Outstanding Achievement.

Amongst the multitude of cast-mates she's worked with throughout her years in the spotlight are Ben Price and Jack P. Shepherd, both of whom play her on-screen sons, Nick and David Platt, as well as Tina O'Brien, who played her daughter Sarah, and Lucy Fallon, her television granddaughter Bethany.

Many of Helen's most iconic scenes also featured co-star Sue Nicolls who - despite only being seven years her senior in real life - played Helen's on-screen mother Audrey Roberts.