Former Coronation Street star Lisa George has opened up about her recent health diagnosis and the fears she has about it impacting her future.
The star, who left her role as Beth Tinker earlier this year, permanently lost part of the sight in her right eye after a gardening accident in 2016, in which a heavy knot at the end of a piece of rope hit her in the face.
But six years later in 2022, Lisa was driving home after celebrating former Corrie co-star Katie McGlynn’s 29th birthday, when her left eye went ‘really weird’.
Lisa has now been diagnosed with a condition called NAION – non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy – which causes sudden vision loss in one eye.
The star is set to enter the world of panto this festive season, joining a production of Cinderella as the Fairy Godmother.
Appearing on BBC Morning Live this week, Lisa revealed how her diagnosis left her worried about the future, and gave her the impetus to leave Corrie and try new things.
‘I’d been to the theatre to see a Shakespeare production and at the end of one of the scenes, there was a blackout – it really was dark,’ she explained. ‘I can’t see in the dark. I really can’t.
‘The actors left the set and I thought, “oh my gosh, I’m not going to be able to do that”. I wouldn’t be able to see or get off the stage. I just can’t see.
‘I remember going home that night and it just had a massive impact on me. I thought I wouldn’t be able to work in theatre again. I just had this panic – I’ve got to get out there. I’ve got to do it.’
She went on to explain how a producer had assured her that there were measures that could be put in place to help her, but that she was worried she would never be able to do it.
‘That was the impetus to think, “I need to get out there. I need to go and do things that I still want to achieve”. That’s why I decided I needed to go and do something else. I don’t want to be known as the same character all my life.’
She also revealed how her condition affected her work at Corrie, saying: ‘I had to have my scripts made bigger for me, and I was tripping over cables or walking into bits of furniture, or missing the curb! Just little things that you actually get used to in the end.’
Lisa previously revealed to the Daily Record how her mental health was impacted as a result of her eye deterioration in 2016. She explained: ‘When my first eye went, I was really depressed, I had my licence taken off me. And, I was really depressed thinking, “Oh my god I’m not going to be able to drive”.’
‘I had an eye patch after about three months and I was in a lot of pain, my right eye was my worse, where I’ve got more vision damage. I was really like, “Oh my god what’s going to happen?” but they were like, “You can drive with one good eye you’ll be fine”.
‘It’s not the best, and like I say, hopefully I won’t go blind with a bit of luck. I just wanted to be able to get back to my roots working in the theatre and doing other things and trying to have those opportunities before I may not be able to work as an actress.’
Reflecting on her departure from Coronation Street, Lisa recently told us:
‘I’ve been on Corrie a long time but you know what? It’s flown. It’s really difficult to comprehend how many years I’ve been here, because it hasn’t computed at all.
‘You get so engrossed in this world and it is timeless. It feels like you’ve only been here a year or two years or something. When you think about people doing 25 years or over 50 years you can easily see how that can happen.’
‘Unusually Beth’s departure was my final scene of filming, often we film out of order but as I filmed it I knew Beth was leaving and it was my final scene on the cobbles’ Lisa explained.
‘Halfway through when he called the cab to stop, and they got out I actually got really, quite tearful. I cried afterwards because it’s been this huge part of my life for such a long time.’
