Coronation Street confirm Emily Bishop’s return later this year

Coronation Street have confirmed Emily Bishop will be returning to Weatherfield later this year.

Well, kind of. The soap took to Twitter on Friday to announce that Emily - played by Corrie legend Eileen Derbyshire - will be seen on-screen in October, as part of Ken Barlow's 80th birthday. Sharing a sneak peek, they explained Emily will be sending a video message in to mark the occasion. "This week we're filming Ken's 80th Birthday party and look who surprises him with a special video message - it's Emily," they wrote. "See it all on screen in October."

This week we're filming Ken's 80th Birthday party and look who surprises him with a special video message - it's Emily!

See it all on screen in October ❤️#Corrie #Ken #Emily #Exclusive #FirstLook #SneakPeek pic.twitter.com/Bhd4UovRgP — Coronation Street (@itvcorrie) August 9, 2019

Emily's return comes more than three years after Eileen Derbyshire left the soap on a hiatus. Derbyshire first played the role in 1961, before making a temporary exit in January 2016. At the time, Emily flew to Peru to do some charity work - and to reunite with her nephew, Spider. She later returned to the UK (off-screen) with her former housemate Norris Cole and her nice, Freda Burgess. Earlier this year, Corrie boss Iain MacLeod said they were in "talks fairly regularly" with Derbyshire about a possible return. He said:

"We're in talks fairly regularly with Eileen. "At the moment there's no plans for her to return, but... the door's certainly not closed there."