A Coronation Street legend is set to leave the cobbles next month

A Coronation Street fan favourite character is set to bid farewell to the cobbles next month.

The long-running soap is set to celebrate a massive milestone in February, as their 10,000th episode airs on February 7. The hour-long instalment will see Rita Tanner receive a parcel with the ashes of her estranged husband, Dennis Tanner. Alongside the package, she gets a note asking that she scatter his ashes in Blackpool. Ken Barlow and Jenny Connor help turn it into a day trip, with the latter booking a coach and inviting the other residents to join them. The publication report that the full list of characters going on the trip is: Amy, Audrey, Carla, Eileen, Emma, Evelyn, Gail, Jenny, Ken, Mary, Nina, Sean, Tracy, Sally, Yasmeen and Rita.

The day out is a comedy of errors from the start with the coach turning out to be a blacked-out party bus driven by grumpy driver Des, played by renowned comedy actor John Henshaw.

Memories are shared, secrets aired and tensions rise as it starts to look as though they won’t make it to Blackpool before nightfall, if at all. By the end of the trip lives will have changed and one resident realises the time has come to leave the cobbles for pastures new! “10,000 episodes! Not bad for a programme which one newspaper said in 1960 was ‘doomed from the outset.’ I am first and foremost a massive fan of the show and I watched this landmark episode with absolute glee," Producer Iain MacLeod said. "It is uniquely Corrie: funny, poignant and characterful - and a glorious homage to the comedic charabanc trips of times past, packed with strong female characters and sparkling dialogue. It’s a really great exhibition of Coronation Street’s classic qualities as we start a new decade on the cobbles.”