Coronation Street Actress Maureen Lipman becomes first Dame of the cobbles

ITV News Correspondent Nick Wallis looks back at an unforgettable career, celebrated with an honour from the Prince of Wales

Maureen Lipman has become the first Dame of Coronation Street after she was given the honour by the Prince of Wales.

The 75-year-old actress was made a Dame Commander for services to charity, entertainment and the arts for her career which has lasted more than 50 years.

She was awarded the honour at Windsor Castle by Prince Charles.

Dame Maureen's appeared in Wetherfield as Evelyn Plummer since 2018, after a brief cameo in 2002.

She is also famous for her unforgettable role as the Gran in a series of adverts for BT in the 1980s.

Dame Maureen says she borrowed seven hats from the Corrie wardrobe department before canvassing friends for their opinions on what to wear for the special occasion.

After the ceremony she said: "The fact that the future monarch has given me a damehood - I never expected that because I had an award.

"And then it's been a long time coming because I heard about it in 2020 and then I couldn't collect it. And so the coat you bought becomes like something you don't want to wear.

"Then it becomes 'what the heck do I wear on my head?', and then in the end I went to Coronation Street and I said 'have you got any fascinators in wardrobe?' and they gave me seven."

Speaking about how she finally chose the black headpiece, she said: "I travelled back from Manchester with seven hats and on Tuesday I had friends round and they said 'wear that, no that, not that' and I completely blew it this morning and changed my mind."