So Liz McDonald is leaving The Street. Donal O’Donoghue chronicles the roller-coaster times of a Weatherfield icon
Big hair. Skinny waist. Wide eyes. Short skirt. Even if she never spoke – and boy could she talk – Liz McDonald was destined to be a Corrie star. From her very first scene on the Street in 1989, there was something about Liz and it wasn’t just her (at that time) flaming red hair or mini-skirts. Inexorably and inevitably, she claimed her natural niche in Weatherfield, pulling pints and pulling blokes behind the bar of the Rovers Return. As such, Liz (played by Beverley Callard) was the natural successor to the totemic Bet Lynch and she had the wardrobe to match.
Now, like Lynch, McDonald is about to disappear into the sunset, leaving her beloved Rovers with a final, lingering look and without a word to her ex, Jim, or her son, Steve. Is this the end? Probably, but in the topsy-turvy world of soaps you can never say never. “As long as the buzz is still there I will stay with the Street”, Callard told me last April. Back then, the 53-year-old was plugging her biography, Unbroken: A Story of Survival, a candid account of sex and drugs and electro-shock therapy. Uncharacteristically, the actress was nervous as a kitten, saying that she was not used to talking about herself. Usually, it was all about Liz McDonald. Like her soap alter ego, she smoked like a train but was extremely likeable. She confessed to having never watched a single episode of Coronation Street (she hates seeing herself on screen) and admitted to being a fan of rival soap, EastEnders.
Six months after that interview, she decided to pull the plug. Her imminent marriage to long-term partner, Jon McEwan, was cited as the main reason and there were whispers of a return to the stage. Whatever her reason for quitting, she will be missed from our screens. Over more than 20 years – punctuated by two breaks, including a nine-month hiatus in 2009 for treatment of depression – Callard has been through the soap wringer: at various times, a domestic abuse victim, a kidnapping victim, and a fashion victim (some of those shoulder pads would take your eye out). But Liz McDonald’s biggest baggage was always her family, with husband Jim, an ex-army man with an explosive temper, and her twin boys, Steve and Andy.
Liz herself was no angel, with a love life to match Deirdre Barlow’s – no wonder those two were as thick as thieves, but she always had a soft spot for Jim. It was no surprise when he reappeared recently and few eyebrows were raised when he robbed a bank to finance the beleaguered Rovers. That’s Jim for you! But Liz had had enough. She is leaving her mouthy son (it’s a family thing, apparently) Steve, to look after the Rovers, but the pub’s future still hangs in the balance. As does a possible return for the iconic Liz – after all she is not being dumped in a canal or demolished by a runaway train or smashed with a hammer.
“The thing about Liz is, even when she goes off to Spain she always has those links with the Street through Steve, so I am sure it won’t be the last we see of Liz on the cobbles”, Callard said last week. In the best tradition of soap opera, those saloon doors have been left swinging. Naturally, ITV are making a big hoo-haw of the leaving of Liz, with a special tribute programme (Farewell Liz), narrated by Callard’s co-star (and good mate) Denise Welch and featuring interviews with Charlie Lawson (Jim), Julie Goodyear (Bet Lynch) and Simon Gregson (Steve McDonald). It will be emotional but not a patch on Liz’s last goodbye. When she looks around the Rovers that last time – placing a towel on those silent beer pumps – there won’t be a dry eye in the house.
