Charlie Condou announces his final departure from Coronation Street

Coronation Street's Charlie Condou has tweeted that he has graced the cobbles of Weatherfield for the final time.

The actor has played Marcus Dent in the ITV soap for four years over two stints, but announced in November 2013 that he would be quitting to spend more time with his family.

Charlie tweeted a photo of Coronation Street pub The Rovers Return's sign, captioned "Over and out".

He lives in London with his partner Cameron Laux and their children Hal and Georgia, but recently told the Daily Mirror his commute to Manchester was becoming too much.

He said: "It was just getting too difficult. Georgia is at an age now where she was saying, 'How long are you away for this week?' and 'When are you going to be back, Daddy?'

"At my busiest I was getting home late on a Friday night and going back to Manchester on Sunday afternoon. I just wasn't getting that time with my kids."

– Press Association

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.