'Coronation Street' star Debra Stephenson has announced that she is planning to quit the show at the end of the year.
The 33-year-old actress, who has played Frankie Baldwin in the show for two years, said that she wanted to spend more time with her family.
Stephenson said: "I had originally only planned to stay for two years but I didn't anticipate how much I would enjoy playing Frankie."
"Our son Max is due to start school next year and my husband James and I had to discuss the future now," she said. "We still have a house in the south and felt it was the right time for us to move back there, to give Max time to settle before starting school."
A spokesperson for 'Coronation Street' confirmed that the door would be left open for Stephenson's character Frankie to make a return at a later date.
Speaking about leaving the soap, she said: "I will miss all the great friends I have made here and it will be lovely to think that this isn't the last the public has seen of Frankie."
