Claire Sweeney is leaving Coronation Street and Cassie Plummer's departure later this summer could mean heartche for Steve McDonald as Tracey Barlow finally sees off her rival18:24, 16 Jun 2026Soap star Claire Sweeney has told fans to brace for her "very dramatic" Coronation Street exit after announcing why she just had to quit the show.‌After three-year playing troubled Cassie Plummer, the actress is off after accepting the part of battleaxe Miss Hannigan from the hit musical Annie, which she says is a role she has always dreamed of. She will be in tour when we see her goodbye to the Cobbles and teased that the past could return to haunt Cassie.‌In August, viewers will see the recovering junkie and mum to Tyrone Dobbs depart and the mechanic's biological dad Ross will be involved in her gripping farewell. Claire, 55, has already filmed her last scenes, and promised it will be emotional.‌Speaking to Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley on This Morning, she detailed what's ahead after deciding she had to leave the show to take the stage opportunity."All the writers have done a great job and there's humour in it," she said. "It's heartbreaking scenes and it's dramatic, and it's explosive. What I can say is that it involves Tyrone's dad. So a blast on the past turns up and it's explosive!"‌Cat asked why she has decided now is the time to leave and she said: "When your phone pings and it's Michael Harrison saying 'do you want to Hannigan' I just thought that if I don't do this, I'll just regret it."I have been so lucky with my storylines. I have poisoned Bill Roache, Ken Barlow - he is a national treasure! That was a great storyline. I've been very lucky."Claire said she "had wobbles all the way along" and kept asking people if she was doing right thing by stepping aside from the long-running soap.‌After years of ‘hounding’ the producer, she has finally landed the role of the orphanage matron - a part she has wanted for so long, she considers it worth leaving Corrie for.“I’ve always wanted to play her. On my 40th birthday a friend made me a card that was a collage of my life and career," she told the Mirror. "He knew that my dream was to play Hannigan and he’d superimposed my face on Paul O’Grady’s body as Miss Hannigan. So, I’ve sat on my toilet for the last 15 years looking at myself as Hannigan! And now it’s finally happened.”‌Despite being great friends with her Corrie colleagues, Claire decided against having a leaving do. She explains: “I don’t like big goodbyes. I just like to sneak off. I don’t like a party or anything like that. Si Gregson (Steve McDonald) suggested we go for a drink, but I just want to have lunch with everyone in the canteen."Speaking more about Ty's dad Ross' arrival, Claire explains: “She’d finally got the stability and the family life she’d been craving. And Ross comes in and he totally turns her son’s head. It took her long enough to be accepted. She knows that Ross is a wrong ‘un and she knows the impact he will have, not only on her and her security, but also on everyone around her. She knows what he’s about. He’s dangerous, but people don’t see it, because he’s very good at covering it up.”His appearance also stirs up memories of a past Cassie had tried hard to bury, as it emerges that Ross was her former client when she was working as a teenage prostitute, while struggling with drug addiction. Claire says: “She’s re-invented her life and found the respect and decency and the family environment that she’s always wanted and he is a blast from her sordid past.Article continues below“She’s in love with Steve McDonald and Ross is opening a can of worms that she doesn’t want Steve, Tyrone or anyone on the cobbles knowing about. She’s started to be liked and to be accepted, so it’s really sad. But it’s the most fantastic exit storyline, I couldn’t have wished for more.”