Claire Sweeney, who currently stars as Cassie Plummer on Coronation Street, is about to leave the ITV soap and join the cast of a classic musical
12:14, 29 Jan 2026Updated 13:13, 29 Jan 2026
Coronation Street star Claire Sweeney has teased a huge career move is on the way
Coronation Street will be without one of its much loved stars soon.
Claire Sweeney will be stepping back after bagging a role on the UK tour of Annie as Miss Hannigan. The actress, 54, is currently playing Cassie Plummer on ITV’s Coronation Street, but will be returning to her musical theatre roots.
The former Dancing on Ice star will now be taking on the part of Miss Hannigan in a new production of the classic musical throughout 2026. She will be alternating in the role with the previously-announced La Voix, who was cast as the villainous orphanage proprietress following her stint on Strictly Come Dancing towards the end of last year.
On Thursday, the official Instagram account for the Annie tour wrote on Instagram: “Someone pinch us please…Claire Sweeney is Miss Hannigan! Don’t miss Claire as our Mother of the Year!”
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Cassie was introduced as the long-lost mother of Tyrone Dobbs and has settled into a relationship with Steve McDonald
Following the news, a spokesperson for Coronation Street said: “Cassie will be on the cobbles until the summer during which time she will continue to make her presence felt in Weatherfield leading up to a great exit storyline.” The Mirror understands that Corrie bosses have been aware of Claire’s decision to quit for a few months, and that they understand she is leaving to pursue a part she has always wanted to play.
The tour will open on 23 May with La Voix at the New Wimbledon Theatre and she will be appearing in Birmingham, Manchester, Plymouth and Canterbury. Claire will then take to the stage from 7 July Cardiff, Milton Keynes, Blackpool, Newcastle, Dublin, Bristol, Nottingham, Hull, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Truro, Cheltenham, Stoke, Crawley, Belfast, Aberdeen, Woking, Bradford, Oxford, Sunderland, Southampton, Norwich, Wolverhampton, Sheffield, Glasgow and Leicester.
As well as her TV work, Claire has appeared extensively in theatre already, having starred in productions of Chicago, Tell Me On A Sunday, 9 to 5, Hairspray and Legally Blonde over the years. Before finding fame on Brookside, Claire started out singing as a teenager and then, following a successful stint on the first series of Celebrity Big Brother, she released a self-titled album in 2002.
The musical is based on the comic strip Little Orphan Annie created by Harold Gray and follows the story of a plucky redhead who is searching for her parents before finding herself in the company of billionaire Oliver Warbucks. The show, famed for standards like Tomorrow and It’s A Hard Knock Life, was awarded Best Musical at the 1977 Tony Awards, and actresses to have enjoyed their big break through playing the title role over the years include Andrea McArdle, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Stranger Things star Sadie Sink.
Claire will take over the role from Strictly Come Dancing star La Voix(Image: Getty Images)
The role of Miss Hannigan was originally played by Dorothy Loudon on Broadway in 1977, and she won a Tony Award for her efforts. Perhaps more famously, legendary comedienne Carol Burnett brought the role to life for the big-screen adaptation in 1982 and, she was then played by Misery star Kathy Bates in Disney’s television remake in 1999.
Some of Miss Hannigan’s most famous songs include Little Girls and Easy Street, and in the UK, the role has long since been given to famous faces from stage and screen. Paul O’Grady, as drag alter-ego Lily Savage, was cast in the West End revival of Annie in 1998 and it became his final performance when he returned to the part in 2023 just before his death.
Other stars to have taken on the part over the years include Birds of a Feather star Lesley Joseph, Ruth Madoc and Su Pollard, both of Hi-De-Hi fame, whilst Claire’s Coronation Street co-star Jodie Prenger alternated the part in 2023 with Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood and Two Doors Down actress Elaine C Smith.
Speaking on ITV’s Loose Women, former Drag Race star La Voix previously shared: “I am going into Annie. It’s very exciting because, I really wanted to do that role because this is an interesting fact, I’m the same age now as what Paul O’Grady was when he first did Lily Savage in Annie.
“And I just want to continue that legacy, which is wonderful. Craig Revel Horwood did it, but I didn’t want to mention it when I was doing Strictly, because of course, that was in talks. And I thought ‘If he’s up for the same job and I’ve got it, I’d get terrible scores!”‘
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