An Interview with Sue Cleaver
Sue Cleaver made her Coronation Street debut in 2000, and the role of Eileen Grimshaw fitted her like a glass slipper on Cinderella’s foot. What was planned as a short-term role lasted a quarter of a century.
Earlier this year, Eileen was whisked off to Thailand by son Jason, and Corrie’s loss is Hull New Theatre’s gain. This December, Sue makes her debut in Beauty and the Beast, with Paul Chuckle; local panto regular Jack Land Noble; rising comedy star Jack Gleadow, Bat Out of Hell’s Sharon Sexton and radiant newcomer, Liv Newcomb. At the show’s press launch in Hull on one of the hottest days of the year, Roger Crow sat down with Sue for a chat.
I’ve been on the set of Corrie and I know how fast the turnaround is. Anything like theatre?
Well, you’ve got a lot more time in theatre. You tend to find nothing phases you when you’re used to doing things so quickly. It’s nice to have a lot of time to be able to play around with different ideas as opposed to get in and get it done.
And you’ve done so many great performances outside of Corrie, like 1998 BBC drama The Cops. I saw an episode the other day when with you and Alan Halsall (Tyrone) when he was about 12.
He was quite young there. I worked with him… we did a commercial together years ago where he was playing my son, and I think he was about six. And then Andy Whyment (Kirk) played my son – Harry Enfield did a series, and we were a family called the Mancs, that was sort of based on the Gallagher brothers. Harry and I were the parents.
What was your favourite Corrie storyline?
Oh gosh. That’s a very hard one. It’s not so much the story… there’s lots that go with it. There’s the day, the people involved. Obviously all the Gail and Eileen fights are glorious and we loved filming that. And the famous one of us both on the street, and she’s sat on top of me. I remember we looked at each other and said: “What a ridiculous way to pay the mortgage!” Because this is how we pay our mortgage and pay our bills.
“It’s never too late to re-invent yourself”
It’s rare that I’ve seen any new actor slot straight into a role, but your first episode on day one in 2000, I thought, ‘Perfect. Don’t change a thing’.
Ahhh. Yeah, and my contract was only for three months. I’d been there about four weeks and Liz Dawn (Vera) came up to me in the green room, and said: “Ay kid. Yer getting an ‘ouse.’ Watch this space.” And then the next thing, they said, “You’re getting number 11, and we’re going to bring in two kids for you.” It just happened like that. It wasn’t planned. I was like, “Wow!”
Bringing Jason back for Eileen’s exit story was beautiful.
Well that was my doing. I decided about 2022 that I was going to wind things up, and I gave them a year’s notice, but before I told them, I rang Ryan Thomas (Jason) up and I said: ‘You can’t say anything. I’m going to leave. But would you come back and take me out? (of Weatherfield)’. And he said: ‘I’ll definitely come back for you.’ So I went to them and said, ‘Look. I’ve decided it’s time to leave. They said what kind of exit do you want. Do you want a big dramatic ending?’ I said, ‘No, I’d like to keep her alive, but what I’d really like is for Ryan to come back and she goes to Thailand with him’. And I said, ‘Oh by the way, I’ve asked him and he said yes’, and they said ‘Okay fine’. So that’s what I got.
It fitted in perfectly, because there was nothing quite like the sight of Eileen clipping Jason round the ear.
And it fitted in with the narrative of what’s going on in my own life. I wrote a book last year called A Work in Progress. It’s a manifesto for women of my age. And we’re at a point where society would like us to shuffle off. And it’s very much about what’s holding us back and moving forward in our sixties after we’ve done all our work of being responsible; bringing up our families. The book’s about it’s never too late to re-invent yourself, to face new challenges and to do something new. I very much wanted her storyline to match what I was saying in the book, and how I’m trying to live fearlessly.
And this is your new chapter isn’t it…
Yeah, absolutely.
It would be great to see you on stage and screen in the future too.
Well I’m not looking to work to hard (laughs). Yeah, I’m excited. I’ve got fingers in some pies. I’m just in a very fortunate position where I can pick and choose, which is nice.
Beauty and the Beast can be seen at Hull New Theatre from December 10-31 2025.
Adopted Yorkshireman Roger Crow developed a passion for film and TV in the 1970s and 1980s. He has been a published film and TV reviewer since the 1990s; a world travel and restaurant critic since the noughties, and for the past decade has assessed the pros and cons of live gigs and theatre productions around the UK. His ideal day would involve reviewing a performance of Bat Out of Hell, followed by a Pad Thai while being serenaded by Texas on a cruise around Europe.
crowsfeat.com; nostalgiahhh film podcast
