icon Sue Cleaver has lifted the lid on her first ever acting role before she found fame on the Manchester cobbles. Last week, the 61-year-old actress left the long-running show after 25 years portraying Eileen Grimshaw.

Sue's character has had a dramatic time in Weatherfirld and is perhaps best known for her iconic on-screen rivalry with Gail Platt as well as her marriage to serial killer Pat Phelan. Now, in an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, the mum-of-one has reflected on her first few acting jobs before she made a name for herself on Corrie. In collaboration with Dexcom for Diabetes Awareness Week, the actress revealed her first ever TV role was with national treasure .

She gushed: "Oh my god that was my first TV job, I can barely remember it. I was only on it for a scene or two but God It was great fun and I'm still in touch with everyone which is nice."

The TV star went from strength to strength on the small screen, soon going on to land a role on Harry Enfield's Dinnerladies where she shared the screen with Victoria Wood and Julie Walters.

The actor went on: "I've just been recently working with Sue Devaney who was in Dinnerladies so there's a lot of the old gang who were in that and it was such a great experience. I'm very privileged to have been around at that time and involved in those shows, it was very fun."

After the show came to an end, the veteran actor was picked up by Coronation Street for her now infamous role as Eileen where she thrived both on and off screen.

After a quarter of a decade on the soap, the star decided to take a leap of faith and say goodbye to the cobbles but ITV bosses have made sure to leave the door open for her to return in the future.

Talking about her first few weeks away from the show, she reassured fans that she is still in touch with the cast and crew on the show. She explained: "I've left behind a lot of friends and family but they're not too far away.

"My husband still works for the show so I'm still connected, in fact, I'm seeing a load of them on Sunday this weekend. I try and live in the present but it has been a wonderful.

"And now I'm all about new adventures and seeing what's coming and if something takes my fancy I'm going to run with it. I'm open to opportunities and what this next decade can bring."

Sue went on to reveal one "disgusting" memento she took home from the famous set which she now treasures in her home. She revealed: "I have got one memento.

"When I first joined the Grimshaws there was this big elephant with a glass eye crying, and I said, 'Oh my God, that's disgusting! Somebody throw that away, somebody break it because I can't have that. It's awful!'

"And then over the years, it's become part of the funiture, to the point where I'd say to the cameramen, 'Don't knock the elephant. If anything happens to that elephant there's going to be bad luck'.

"So on my last day they gave me the elephant as its custodian for safe keeping and that if I ever go back, I'm to take the elephant back and I shall pass it down.

"So to me, it's got the significance of Hilda's [Ogden] three flying ducks . It's not directly on show, its hidden away somewhere where I can see it when I want to see it."

Just days after she left the soap, Sue landed an exciting new role in a theatre production called Snakes in the Grass which is set to debut this autumn.

Speaking about her exciting upcoming role, she confessed that returning to the theatre felt like a "full circle moment" for her after a 27-year career on the silver screen.

Sue confessed: "It's my first love, it's alwauys been my first love and this is what I wanted to do after my exit. I wanted to go back out there on stage so I'm really looking forward to it.

"It's a co-production between the Theatre Clwyd and the Octagon Theatre in Bolton, and it's meaningful to me because the Octogan is where I started. That's where I got my equity card so to come full circle and go and be able to go back there is really, really special."

Sue Cleaver has teamed up with the diabetic company Dexcom, the makers of a continuous glucose monitoring system, to raise awareness ahead of Diabetes Awareness Week.

The star was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes 29 years ago, and stressed that "diabetes lives with her, se doesn't live with it" as she opened up about her battle with the health condition.

She revealed: "This campaign is all about decision fatigue which I think a lot of people who don't have this condition don't really understand. It's like having an app running in the background of your brain all the time.

"It's like a constant noise saying, 'What's my sugar? Did I take my meds? What could I eat to avoid a spike?' It's like a marathon. You're constantly reading food labels and making constant decisions under stress.

"But the reason that I love Dexcom is because the monitor helps me see how my body is reacting in the moment so I can see how its reacting to food, to stress, to sleep, to activity, and I don't have to go through this debate in my head.

"My glucose levels really alter under stress, so if I'm about to go on a chat show or Loose Women or I'm about to go on stage, my responses will either go up or down.

"So to have Dexcom feels like a toolkit that gives me real time information and I can make decisions quickly and keep everything running smoothly so that I can get on with my life."