As fans of Corrie will know, even though he’s only just come back to the Street, Keith Duffy – who plays Ciaran McCarthy – won’t be around long as he wants to spend more time with his family…

And until today, how Ciaran would be written out has remained a secret, but Keith has now revealed that his character will leave with gambling debts and having carried out a robbery.

Speaking to RTE, Keith – whose son Jay recently starred in Hollyoaks – said, “Ciaran gambles away all his wedding money and then gets into trouble with Michelle [Kym Marsh].

“Then he robs a bistro to get his money back and then he gets caught. It’s great.”

I wonder if the writers of Corrie made a deliberate effort to make the show’s Irish characters into criminals??

As fans will recall, Jim McDonald (Charles Lawson) exited the Street after carrying out an armed robbery – which failed, so he’s in prison – on a building society to raise the money to buy The Rovers for his estranged wife Liz (Beverley Callard).

Anyway, moving on, and of the possibility of a return to the show, Keith said, “[The door] is very much open.

“The producers said that while they understood my family commitments in Ireland, they told me to remember that there was always a job for me on the Street.”

We can expect to see Keith as Ciaran for the last time at Christmas. In the meantime, here’s an outtake clip showing Keith struggling with a wine bottle…