Coronation Street Evelyn actress Maureen Lipman’s marriage proposal will floor fans

Coronation Street star Maureen Lipman has opened up about her wedding to businessman David Turner, as well as a new project she is working on away from the Cobbles

Coronation Street favourite Maureen Lipman has revealed details about a “scary” new venture beyond the Cobbles whilst chatting with Alan Titchmarsh on his ITV programme, Love Your Weekend. The actress also offered glimpses into her wedding and distinctive proposal.

At the start of their conversation, Alan asked Maureen how long she had been appearing in the soap, and the actress confessed that her character had stepped back for the time being.

He said, “You’ve been in it now since 2018, so seven years?”

“Is it seven?” Maureen enquired before continuing, “But once you get in there, time just stands still. You know, it’s very good for an elderly brain, because, as you know, you have to learn every night and then throw it away, learn again.

“You know, six scenes, five scenes, whatever it is, and when you stop doing it, because I’m kind of out now, really, my character has gone to university to study law, with a special emphasis on canine law. Don’t ask me what it means.”

She continued, “So I am out of it now, but it’s so wonderful to go back,” reports OK!

The conversation soon shifted to Maureen’s wedding, with Alan offering congratulations to the soap star. Maureen wed businessman David Turner last summer.

The Evelyn Plummer actress remembered, “Well, we sort of talked about it in a jocular fashion, you know, but our ages added up to 158, so David had lost his wife, I had lost my partner during COVID, and then this bloke comes along and asks me for a date.

“So we went for a walk in Hertfordshire, and, you know, said he fell in love with me when I came out of the toilet.

“Yeah, so we were on a train coming back from Edinburgh, and he said that it was a particular day in the Jewish calendar that was sort of like Valentine’s Day.

“It’s apparently a day when women can ask men to marry them. So you wouldn’t pass that one up if you were a comedian, would you? So I slid under the table on the train, and I said, ‘Will you marry me?’ And he said, ‘Are you serious?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, go on then’.”

Alan then quizzed Maureen about her new role in a comedy play called Allegra. She shared, “This play is about…it’s good for our times, because it’s about a woman who is a Dotty but relentlessly happy, and she goes into places and she sings and she entertains, and nobody wants her, and so they’re really trying to make her miserable like everybody else. But of course, when she is it’s they don’t like her that way.

“So I’m going to tour, which now that I’ve got nicely settled, I’m loath to do, but you have to. “

When asked whether it was a “daunting and tiring prospect”, Maureen candidly admitted, “Well, it’s tiring at this time of life. But, I mean, look at Anne Reid. You know she was out there at night. She’s the most ambitious actress I have met in a good way.

“Every day is some sort of a surprise; it’s a difficult world to live in at the moment if you’re of my persuasion, and sticking your head above the parapet is no fun, it is scary.”