Coronation Street’s Eileen Grimshaw has officially said goodbye to Weatherfield on Friday as fans branded the send off ‘dragged out’ and ‘boring’.

Sue Cleaver, who played the iconic ITV character, bid an emotional farewell to the iconic cobbles 25 years after her debut.

The actress first appeared on the soap in 2000 when her character moved into number 11 with sons Jason and Todd Grimshaw.

And despite the character capturing the hearts of the nation for more than two decades, fans felt show bosses had not given her the send off she deserved as she made a big move to Thailand. 

Eileen was being suspected in her sister Julie’s tragic death but was thankfully was cleared by the police of any wrongdoing.

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Coronation Street ‘s Eileen Grimshaw has officially said goodbye to Weatherfield on Friday as fans branded the send off ‘dragged out’ and ‘boring’ 

Sue Cleaver , who played the iconic ITV character, bid an emotional farewell to the iconic cobbles 25 years after her debut 

She first appeared on the show in 2000 (pictured) when her character moved into number 11 with sons Jason (L) and Todd Grimshaw (R) 

The beloved resident then decided to make the move to Thailand, and invest in her son Jason’s bar.

And it wasn’t the only big change for her as she also ended her relationship with George after admitting she only loved him as a friend. 

In her final scenes, Eileen who worked at the StreetCars taxi service alongside Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson), was seen hopping into the back of his cab with Jason.

Flocking to social media, TV buffs dubbed the episode as ‘boring’ which will ‘go down in history as one of the most drawn out exits ever’.  

One penned: ‘This will go down in history as one of the most drawn out exits ever,’ as another wrote: ‘This is a dreadful last episode for a long term character.’ 

‘Well, that send off, wasn’t very exciting,’ tweeted a third, while another agreed: ‘Goodness. Eileen’s exit storyline is very, very, VERY bland.’    

Back in January it was revealed that Sue would be leaving the Cobbles to pursue other projects and two months later it was confirmed that the soap star had already filmed her final scenes. 

Eileen’s exit from the show also included her son Jason, meaning that actor Ryan Thomas, 40, would be reprised his role for the storyline. 

And despite the character capturing the hearts of the nation for more than two decades, fans felt show bosses had not given her the send off she deserved

Eileen’s exit from the show also included her son Jason, meaning that actor Ryan Thomas (right), 40, would be reprised his role for the storyline (pictured alongside Todd Grimshaw – Gareth Pierce who replaced Bruno Langley)

Flocking to social media, TV buffs dubbed the episode as ‘boring’ which will ‘go down in history as one of the most drawn out exits ever’

Speaking to The Mirror about her on-screen son Ryan’s involvement in the storyline, Sue said: ‘Ryan was there from the start, and he was inconveniently living in Thailand, and it wouldn’t be too far of a jump to expect that if Eileen was going to make a leap, that she would involve her son.

‘And so when I decided to leave, like over a year ago, I rang Ryan, and I said, ‘Ryan, I’m going to tell them that I’m going, and if they ask me about exits, I’d really like to say that you’d come back and take me out, but I don’t know whether they’d go for it or not’.

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‘And he just went, ‘Oh my gosh, of course, I would’ Which was so lovely for me.

‘And it was just so nice to have him back and filming those final scenes with him. It just felt like I’d come full circle really.’

Sue isn’t the only star who is saying goodbye to the cobbled streets.

Mick (Joe Layton and Lou Michaelis (Farrel Hegarty) are leaving in the summer, as well as Adam Hussain who plays Adam Hussain.

Sue Devaney, who plays Debbie Webster, is leaving the soap next year, as well as Billy Mayhew star Daniel Brocklebank.

Yazmeen Nazir, Max Turner, Rob Donovan, Daisy Midgeley, Julie Carp and Craig Tinker have also left the show.

Simon Barlow, Tommy Oprington and Beth Tinker left last year.

Coronation Street airs on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.