Katy Cavanagh has revealed that she is quitting . The 41-year-old actress, who plays Julie Carp on the show, said that she will be focusing on other projects after starring on the soap for seven years.

"I have decided it's time to take a break from the cobbles and pursue other projects and opportunities," said Katy. "I have loved every minute in the world of Julie Carp and I'm not ruling out a return to the Street in the future."

"However I am looking forward to a new challenge and a pair of flat shoes," she joked.

Katy Cavanagh has been playing unlucky-in-love Julie Carp for seven years

Katy, who trained at RADA and the National Youth Theatre, first joined the cast of in 2008. Her character Julie, who is known for her unlucky-in-love status, is in a relationship with Dev but the pair's romance will soon start to unravel when he returns from his trip to India – forcing Julie to rethink her future and move away.

It is expected that Julie will remain on the show until late spring. A door has been left open, however, for Julie to return as a main character.

"Everyone at wishes Katy all the very best and hopefully as far as Julie is concerned, the cobbles haven't seen the last of her," said producer Stuart Blackburn.

"Julie Carp has become a warm, wonderful and eccentric character able to raise a laugh and a tear in the same scene," he added.

Katy Cavanagh has previously described Julie as 'sparkly, romantic and sagacious'

Her disastrous dating history on the soap began when Julie was introduced as Kirk Sutherland's new girlfriend. The pair were together for a year – and even went through a pregnancy scare – but after being dumped by Kirk, Julie went on to date characters Jason Grimshaw, Brian Packham and Dominic Saul.

In 2012 one of her biggest storylines came from Julie believing she was pregnant again, but she turned out to have a problem with her ovaries, leading her to have a hysterectomy.

Northumberland-born Katy has previously spoken of her role, saying: "Three words to describe Julie – sparkly, romantic and sagacious."

"I don't think anything irritates me about Julie," she added of her chatterbox character. "I couldn't play her if anything irritated me. She does talk a lot so sometimes I'm completely knackered by the end of the day of playing Julie and I just want to go home and moan for an hour."

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