Coronation Street legends, 'missing' and leaving stars out in force as Sue Cleaver ditches cobbles

The stars of Coronation Street were out in force as their pal and co-star Sue Cleaver made her latest appearance on stage in Sister Act The Musical. The actress has ditched the cobbles for a short while in order to perform in the Olivier Award-nominated production.

Sue has swapped the Rovers for rosary beads as Mother Superior in the show's UK and Ireland tour, which kicked off at Manchester's Palace Theatre on Monday (March 18) where it will play to the city's audiences until Saturday, March 30.

The 60-year-old recently said of her new role: "I am really looking forward to it. I haven’t been on stage for so many years. It’s been nearly 30 years now so yeah, it’s scary but also exciting and theatre was almost my first love. I am really going back to my roots."

READ MORE: Coronation Street exit as character leaves Weatherfield four years after recast

READ MORE: Read more of our Coronation Street stories here

And the red carpet was rolled out on Monday as Sue, who is famed for playing Eileen Grimshaw in the ITV soap, took to the stage in Manchester for the first time with plenty of her Corrie pals in the audience to support - including the on-screen family.

Gareth Pierce, who was recast a few years ago in the role of Eileen's son Todd, and her on-screen boyfriend Tony Maudsley, who plays George Shuttleworth, made their way into the venue alongside star of stage and screen Jodie Prenger, who can these days be seen behind the bar at the Rovers playing Glenda Shuttleworth.

The trio were all smiles as they awaited seeing Sue in action and they were all clearly thrilled with her performance. Tony took to social media on Tuesday (March 19) and said alongside pictures of his co-star on stage: "That's my girl!! @Sue_Cleaver