Coronation Street star Lisa George has revealed that concerns about her health have influenced her decision to depart from the show after 13 years.
The actress, widely recognized for her role as Beth Tinker in the ITV soap, has been a fixture on the show since 2011.
Lisa first joined the cast when Steve McDonald, looking to make his wife Becky jealous, called on Beth for a date.
The following year, Steve again involved her by moving Beth and her son Craig into No.13, in an attempt to irritate his new wife, Tracy Barlow.
However, this wasn’t Lisa’s initial appearance on the famous cobbles. Her first foray into Coronation Street came back in 1997 when she portrayed a young nurse working alongside Martin Platt.
Before landing the role of Beth, Lisa appeared as a Family Liaison Officer involved in the investigation of Tommy Harris’s murder, appearing in five episodes between March and April 2005.
After Christmas, rumors began to circulate that Lisa would be leaving the long-running show.
These rumors persisted, and it wasn’t until she appeared on This Morning on Wednesday, August 28, that she confirmed her departure.
Lisa announced that her final scenes on Coronation Street would air on Friday, August 30.
Discussing her exit for the first time, Lisa shared on This Morning, “It feels strange. I don’t think it’s fully sunk in yet. I believe it won’t truly hit me until I’m no longer on screen, and knowing that Friday will be my last scenes, I think it will start to sink in then.”
Lisa has now opened up about how her fear of going blind prompted her to look for new opportunities.
Last year, she was diagnosed with NAION—non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy—a rare condition that causes sudden and painless vision loss in one eye due to a lack of blood flow and oxygen to the optic nerve.
The condition has left Lisa partially blind in one eye, with only peripheral vision in the other.
She previously explained that she first developed the condition after being struck in the eye with a rope while helping to chop down a tree. The condition then unexpectedly affected her other eye while she was driving on a motorway.
In an interview with ITV’s Granada Reports,Lisa explained how this diagnosis played a significant role in her decision to leave Coronation Street.
She said, “If I do go blind, I still want to continue looking for opportunities as an actress. This diagnosis was the impetus for me to see what else is out there, as I don’t want to miss any potential opportunities.”
Reflecting on her departure, Lisa added, “Thirteen years is a long time, and what I’m going to miss the most are the people and my friends.
Everyone says it’s like a family, and it truly is. We have so much fun with the crew, and there’s a lot of support among everyone.”
She continued, “We’re all part of WhatsApp groups, and when someone does something great on the show, everyone sends messages saying how much they loved it. I don’t know of any other job where people do that.”
