Michelle Collins has quit 'Coronation Street'.
The 51-year-old actress has decided to leave her role as Rovers Return pub landlady Stella Price after more than two years on the cobbles and will exit the hit ITV soap when her contract expires in April.
Show bosses are thought to be distraught at losing yet another star after they were forced to axe Tommy Duckworth actor Chris Fountain on Monday (19.08.13) as explicit videos of him performing raps about rape appeared online.
A source told The Sun newspaper: "Corrie will have pulled out all the stops to try to keep Michelle as she is one of their biggest stars. It's a real blow losing her and it will be incredibly tough and expensive to replace her. They wanted her to stay for a lot longer -- and this news really couldn't have come at a worse time."
Michelle is the latest actress to quit the long-running soap, following in the footsteps of her on-screen mum Sue Johnston, who plays Gloria, and popular star Michelle Keegan, who plays Tina McIntyre.
'Coronation Street' has been thrown into chaos in recent months after actors Michael Le Vell and Bill Roache were indefinitely written out of the soap amidst allegations of sexual assault against young girls.
Both stars are due to stand trial and a decision about their future on the show won't be made until after their respective court dates.
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