Beverley Callard has told fans she’s ‘rubbish at the moment’ as she shared how she’ll return to hospital this week to find out if she’ll need another procedure after being diagnosed with cancer.

The Coronation Street icon – who got her heartbreaking breast cancer diagnosis 20 minutes before filming her first scenes in Dublin-based soap Fair City – had two lymph nodes removed last month, shortly after publicly sharing her diagnosis.

The actress – best known for playing icon Liz McDonald in ITV’s Corrie from 1989 until 2020 – shared the during an appearance on The Late Late Show on February 6. She told host Patrick Kielty: “It’s difficult to know where to start.

“I knew I was coming over here for four weeks, and then I’d have a couple of weeks back in the UK, and then back here – for a long time I’d had some tests just before I left the UK and literally 15 to 20 minutes before [her first scene] I was in my dressing room at Fair City, getting ready to go on, and I was quite nervous and thinking, ‘I hope everybody thinks I’m all right, whatever.’

“And my consultant rang me and said, ‘You’ve got to come back to the UK.’ I said, ‘Well, I can’t possibly, you know, I’ve just taken a new job, I’m away for a month.’ I was diagnosed with breast cancer.”

Beverley stressed at the time that the disease was caught early, saying: “I’m fine. I’m absolutely fine. My head was a bit mashed for the first few days. It’s very early stages, and I’m along with, you know, thousands of other women as well. It’s early stages.”

The soap star has since been sharing updates on her journey, taking to social media with regular video messages. But after taking some time away from social media to spend time with her husband, Jon McEwan, she returned to her platform with another candid post on Tuesday (February 3) evening.

As she spoke to the camera, Beverley explained she is trying to “disguise” any signs of her illness as she prepares to step in front of the cameras again to promote a project. She began: “Hi. An update. I’ve not posted for the last couple of days because to be honest, I’m just really tired, I’m rubbish at the moment.

“But also, a lot of your messages have been so great and lots of them said ‘Just take a bit of time for you!’ So I’ve done that and it was good for Jon and I just to have some quiet time because, obviously, it gets to him, just as much as me. Anyway, today has been a good day. I’ve had more energy and I actually went and had my nails done today, which was quite nice. But I was exhausted when I came back not doing anything!

“Another thing I wanted to talk about was…I have to, hopefully, go back to work on Sunday and Monday, just for two days but it’s to do promotion for a job that I filmed last year, a few months ago and I’ve got the most worrying thing. It’s a bit of a red carpet do and anybody who knows me knows I hate those things.”

And while “loves” everything about being an actress, she says the publicity side of the job isn’t something she is as keen on and admitted that her fears have got “even worse” since her diagnosis. She said: “I love my job, I love learning lines, I love creating a character but standing posing on a red carpet is my worst nightmare. But now [it’s] even worse because I feel lopsided.

“I’ve just had to have a lady come to alter a dress that I’m thinking about wearing, and try and disguise what I’m going through at the moment so I’m even more nervous about it. I know loads of people will think ‘Ooh, red carpet, and getting all dressed up…’ I prefer being dressed like this, but there you go! I’m nervous and anxious about that, and I’m trying to prepare.” Beverley

“The other thing is that I’ve got the hospital again in the morning and hopefully I will find out tomorrow if I have to have a second procedure, that’s at 9am, so I’ll know more about where I stand then but I’m sending loads of love, and thank you for the love you’re sending me.”