Actress Pauline McLynn – widely known for her iconic role as tea-obsessed housemaid Mrs Doyle from the outstanding comedy series Father Ted – joined Coronation Street earlier this year as the formidable new landlady of the Rover’s Return, Maggie Driscoll.

There’s serious drama on the Cobbles to ring in 2026, with Maggie at the heart of the action, but Pauline opens up about her own reasons for disliking this time of year.

‘I don’t like New Year’s at all,’ she admits. ‘And I’ll tell you why. It’s because there’s always somebody missing. As you get older, when you look back at the year and you just think of the people you have lost. I find it a very sad time of year. I love Christmas but prefer to skip the New Year’s parties.’

Just like Pauline, her character Maggie shares her dislike for certain times of celebration in the year. In a special flashback episode, Coronation Street gave us a glimpse into Maggie’s past centring around her birthday, which ended in her pushing her husband down the stairs and causing his untimely death.

While (as far as we know) she has yet to kill anyone during her current stint on the cobbles, will Maggie be on the nice list this year… or the naughty list? Pauline has the best answer.

‘Maggie’s definitely on the naughty list,’ she teases. ‘This Christmas she is going all out to upset as many people as possible in her own inimitable style!’

That sounds about right! And first on the list surely must be her darling son Ben Driscoll’s (Aaron McCusker) fiancée, Eva Price (Catherine Tyldesley).

Since taking over the Rovers’ early this year, these two battling landladies have traded barbs on everything from cocktails to karaoke nights. Maggie’s convinced Eva is not good enough for her darling boy, constantly on her daughter in law’s case waiting for her to put so much as a foot wrong… and it looks like Maggie’s moment has finally arrived.

In recent Christmas episodes, viewers learnt that Eva has been keeping a massive secret from fiancée Ben which she’s written down in a letter to herself (as you do). And with Maggie having found the aforementioned letter, that secret is set to explode!

While Maggie is about to have a fairly stressful Christmas – entirely of her own making – Pauline reveals her own chilled out plans for December 25.

‘I will be with my husband Alan’s family in Dublin including his 94 year old father. He’s wonderful and he has become a huge Coronation Street fan. So that’s where I’ll be watching the show whilst Alan cooks and we will have a little glass of something, and we’ll toast some friends and watch Coronation Street!’