Coronation Street’s Vera and Jack to split

CORONATION Street’s Jack and Vera Duckworth are splitting up, it emerged yesterday.

The longest marriage in the soap’s history will hit the rocks next month when Vera leaves her man.

But the split will not be permanent and a divorce after nearly 50 years of marriage is unlikely.

A Coronation Street source said: “It is a legendary Jack and Vera row, with a new dimension. But they are not going to split up for good. They are separating but it is not permanent. It is definitely not a divorce. We wouldn’t divorce the nation’s best-loved couple.”

The split comes as the bickering couple - played by Liz Dawn, 65, and Bill Tarmey, 64 - approach their 48th wedding anniversary.

Corrie bosses would not divulge any details of what sparks the separation, but fans of the Weatherfield soap know that the marriage has not always been a bed of roses.

The couple got married in 1957, but to get Jack down the aisle Vera lied to him and told him she was expecting a baby.

Their only child, Terry, was not born until 1964 and caused constant problems for his parents as a criminal and a liar.

Jack has had a number of affairs, most notably with Rover’s Return landlady Bet Lynch, and this is not the first time Vera has walked out on him.

They split up in 1975 and Vera had an affair of her own, but they were soon back together and even had a second wedding in Las Vegas in 1997.