Coronation Street star shares emotional post as 'bestest friend' steps away from soap

Coronation Street star Bella Flanagan, who plays Hope Stape, has paid tribute to her "bestest friend" Savannah Kunyo, who stepped away from Weatherfield this week. In scenes aired on Wednesday, Savannah's character Eliza Woodrow was seen leaving the cobbles with her grandfather Stu Carpenter (Bill Fellows) to head to Germany where her father Dom Everett (played by Darren Morfitt) lives.

Addressing her exit on Instagram, Bella shared various pictures and a video of the pair together from their two years on set. She shared: "Now @savannah_and_paris has officially left the cobbles, one of my bestest friends I've made in all my time on corrie and so so sad to see you go, love you always Sav x."

In response, Savannah wrote: "HAHAHA I laughed so hard at that vid seriously though I'm really gonna miss you all my besties." Many of Bella's followers echoed her words in the comments section, as one typed: "Aww I will miss u so much she was one off my favourite xx."(sic)

A second added: "Will miss her," while a third typed: "No idea why you left but Corrie won't be the same without Eliza roaming the cobbles." Eliza arrived on the cobbles in August 2022 and didn't get off to the best start.

Despite having only known her grandfather for a matter of months, Eliza was placed in his care after her mother Bridget Woodrow (Beth Vyse) and grandmother Lucy Woodrow (Lynda Rooke) confessed to the murder of Charlie Walter.

Stu, a chef at Weatherfield's Speed Daal, had initially served 27 years for the crime following a wrongful conviction.

Struggling to fit into her new life, Eliza also didn't have the best welcome from Hope, who grew jealous of Eliza's friendship with Sam Blakeman (Jude Riordan) at first.

After her mum's arrest, Eliza decided to track down her biological father Dom and turned her focus to building a relationship with him, much to Stu's initial disapproval.

After hiring a private investigator, Stu discovered Dom had a secret family and offered him £10,000 to disappear and allow Eliza to stay with him on the cobbles.

In a later turn of events however, Dom later returned with the money and said he couldn't deal with the guilt.

Eliza then made the decision to find out more about her other family members in Hamburg, which sparked her exit.

After Stu decided to go with her, he told partner Yasmeen Metcalfe (Shelley King): "I really appreciate everything you did for her, you gave her the home she needed, the home I needed.

"I don't want to go anywhere unless you want me to. I know things haven't been great between us recently.

"I really want this to work but you've got to be certain you want that too. And if not then no hard feelings, I'll just pack my bags."

Later scenes saw Yasmeen, Sam and Hope assembling together to wave the pair off in a taxi.

Coronation Street continues Monday at 8pm on ITV and ITVX.