Coronation Street fans have realised age gap of Audrey and Gail stars Helen Worth and Sue Nicholls

Coronation Street fans continue to be surprised by the age gap between actors Helen Worth and Sue Nicholls as they play daughter and mother on-screen.

The pair will be at the forefront of the ITV soap this Christmas, and despite not wanting her to go, Audrey will be forced to say goodbye to Gail as she prepares to ride off into the sunset with her new husband Jesse Chadwick - if all goes to plan.

With Gail due her fairytale ending on Christmas Day, will the warring Platt family allow Gail and Jesse Chadwick their winter wonderland wedding or will family feuds put a stop to Gail riding off into the sunset with her sixth husband as the newlyweds prepare to relocate to France?

Gail's plans to leave the cobbles come after acting icon Helen decided to bow out of the long-running role after 50 years. Confirming the reason behind her exit, Helen said in a statement: "This year felt like the perfect time to leave the show after celebrating 50 years in the most wonderful job on the most wonderful street in the world.

"I made the decision at the start of the year and spoke to the producers who were very kind and understanding." She added: "I have been truly blessed to have been given the most incredible scripts week in week out, and to have worked with fantastic actors, directors and a brilliant crew. The past 50 years have flown by and I don't think the fact that I am leaving has quite sunk in yet."

But going back to Audrey and Gail and viewers have previously been distracted after realising the age difference between the actresses. Writing on Facebook in 2022, one fan of the ITV soap, named Lindsey, said: "Just checked, in real life Audrey is 78 and Gail is 71!"

The pair are now 81 and 73 but they are indeed correct meaning the two soap stars are just seven years apart in age. However,. on-screen the pair share an almost 20-year age difference with Audrey being 84 and Gail 66.

The topic then came up again when new broke that Claire Sweeney had joined the soap last to play Cassie Plummer, Tyrone Dobbs' biological mother. One said on X, formerly on Twitter: "People commenting on the 11-year age gap between her and Tyrone probably haven’t realised Sue Nicholls and Helen Worth – Audrey and Gail – are only seven years different in age in real life!"