Coronation Street bosses are planning a fitting tribute to Betty Driver. The 91-year-old actress - who played Rovers Return barmaid Betty Williams in the soap for 42 years - died peacefully in hospital on Saturday and many of her co-stars have paid tribute to her. Betty's on-screen departure will not screen until the New Year as scenes are filmed eight weeks in advance, but Coronation Street writers plan to pen a fitting departure for the much-loved character. The Betty Driver Story will screen after tonight's episode of the soap. Helen Flanagan, who plays Rosie Webster, has changed her Twitter profile picture to one of her and Betty, while William Roache (Ken Barlow) told The Sun: "She was a real colossus of Coronation Street and we will miss her dearly." Former Rovers landlady Julie Goodyear (Bet Lynch) told the Mirror: "Betty was the real power of the Rovers. She always insisted on having everything clean in the pub, because that was how she would have done it." Meanwhile, a campaign has been launched in Lancashire to save the Lancashire hotpot, in tribute to Betty. The pie of mutton, carrots, potatoes, onions and gravy was Betty's signature dish for 40 years, and Driver once even endorsed a ready meal version sold in supermarkets. But the actress confessed she had never tasted it herself as she didn't eat meat, and revealed off-screen she was 'rubbish in the kitchen'. Rochdale restaurateur Andrew Nutter told The Times: "Betty Driver made the Lancashire hotpot iconic. We need to keep passing the recipe on to future generations."
