Coronation Street's Gail bids farewell after 50 years

Coronation Street's longstanding, long-suffering character Gail will bid farewell to Weatherfield on Christmas Day, after 50 years on the cobbles.

Actress Helen Worth has stuck with the character through thick and thin since 1974, and fans have seen Gail weather many domestic dramas, romances, bust-ups and even prison.

The ITV soap announced in June that she would depart with "a major storyline for the Platt family", and her exit is set to be a typically eventful affair.

The 73-year-old actress has said she felt "truly blessed" about her long Corrie career.

Ahead of her festive double episode finale, here's a look back at seven of the much-loved character's most memorable moments.

**Spoiler alert** This article contains details of the Christmas Eve episode

In her penultimate episode on Tuesday, Gail was seen looking troubled on the eve of her seventh wedding - this time to Jesse Chadwick, with whom she is set to move to France.

If they do tie the knot on Christmas Day, she'll equal the record as the Street's most married character, alongside Street Cars stud Steve McDonald.

Viewers might recall that in 1979, Gail Potter (bonus points if you remembered her maiden name) married Brian Tilsley (Christopher Quinten) for the first time.

Brian divorced her following her affair with Ian Latimer because he wasn't sure whether he was really the father of their daughter, Sarah.

The couple reuntied and remarried in 1988, but it didn't end happily. Brian died after being stabbed in an alley after a night out.

After suffering several heartbreaks - due to the murder of her first husband and then the infidelities of second spouse Martin Platt (Sean Wilson) - Gail appeared to have found happiness in 2002 when she married Richard Hillman (Brian Capron).

But to her horror, it transpired her new beau had murdered not only his ex-wife but also Maxine Peacock (Tracy Shaw), as well as attempting to kill Gail's own mum Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls) and neighbour Emily Bishop (Eileen Derbyshire).

Gail, with a now legendary line, branded Richard as "Norman Bates with a briefcase", a reference to the serial killer in classic Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho.

She then ended the marriage, which led to Richard kidknapping her, her son David, Sarah and Bethany with the intention of killing them all.

An audience of more than 19 million watched the story reach its climax as he drove her and her family into a canal... killing only himself.

Christmas Eve's episode ended with Gail receiving a visit from a certain ghost of Christmas past.

In 2004, angry at how Todd Grimshaw (Bruno Langley) was treating her daughter Sarah, Gail found herself embroiled in a fight with his mother Eileen (Sue Cleaver) that spilled out on to the street.

Having yelled at both Todd and Eileen, Gail goaded the latter into slapping her, before all (hair-pulling) hell broke loose.

When Eileen's other son Jason (Ryan Thomas) arrived on the scene from work, still wearing a hard hat, Gail declared: "Here they are, the rest of the Village People!"

As the decades rolled on, the feud continued - but for a respectful ceasefire - with each woman aiming digs at the other about their respective love lives.

It exploded again properly in 2015 when the pair argued over the affections of Gail's fifth husband Michael (Les Dennis).

In 2010, Gail got married again, this time to Joe McIntyre (Reece Dinsdale).

This one wasn't any happier in the end, though, as he decided he was going to fake his own death due to debts.

But he accidentally drowned for real on a boat trip, leading to his new wife being arrested for murder after witnesses said they'd seen the couple arguing (about his aforementioned plan).

In prison, troublemaker Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford) lied that her cellmate Gail had confessed to killing Joe.

Luckily for one of the street's most downtrodden characters, Gail was found not guilty and released.

Gail had her troubles with son David (Jack P. Shepherd) as well, once accusing him of delibrately causing "fear and misery to everyone in this family".

"We've had sleepless nights," she added dramatically. "I'm on pills, for God's sake!"

By 2016, David was a married man himself. However, that came to a tragic end when his wife Kylie (Paula Lane) was stabbed to death, dying in David's arms.

Gail's motherly advice was for him to be honest with his own children about what had happened.

In a heart-rending, tear-filled scene, she recalled the day she had struggled to tell her eldest son Nick (nowadays Ben Price) the truth about his dad Brian being killed, explaining that the boy had been left scarred.

Coronation Street is on Christmas Day with an hour-long episode from 19.00 GMT on ITV.

Additional reporting by Lizo Mzimba.