Coronation Street star Beverley Callard takes break from soap after 'battling the demons of depression'

Coronation Street star Beverley Callard has revealed she has been "battling the demons of depression" and is taking a break from the soap.

The actress from Leeds, who plays Liz McDonald, also said she will be deprived of a drug after pharmaceutical bosses pulled the medication for not making money. She did not say what the medication was, but suggested it was stopped for financial reasons.

The actress ended up almost £150,000 in debt after two pubs she ran with her partner, John, went bust in 2008.

A year later she suffered a panic attack, was diagnosed with clinical depression and admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

Appearing on Piers Morgan's Life Stories show in 2014, Callard said she came very close to taking her own life.

Doctors gave her electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) which had the side-effect of destroying her short-term memory, making it difficult to learn her lines.

The actress said she would stay on medication for "at least another couple of years" to keep her from "going into that black hole"