said, "She'd have loved it to work with Ed but she knew it wouldn't while he was on a mission to absolve himself of his sins. It would be great if Chris came back. I loved working with him, and he really would like to come back." It was announced in 2007 that comedian Sean Hughes would be joining Coronation Street as Pat, a love interest for Eileen. A source told Daily Mirror, "They meet in the [Rovers Return] and get on like a house on fire. It's not very long before they are enjoying steamy sessions. It's a great coup to have Sean play the role. It's a mixture of serious and comical. He and Sue have a good chemistry to make the story work really well". However, the relationship soured when Eileen discovered he was a serial womanizer. A romance with Jerry Morton fizzled out on-screen in 2008, when Eileen dumped him. Actor Michael Starke, who was axed from his role as Jerry Morton in 2008, has been critical about the way Eileen and Jerry's romance "died such an early death". In an interview, he commented, "There was even talk of babies! But it fizzled out – it went absolutely nowhere. It was never explained to me". It has been noted that Eileen has "not had much luck in love", although Cleaver maintains that viewers should not feel sorry for her character, adding that Eileen is "very happy" and "together". She adds, "People forget that she's had proposals of marriage and turned them down." Reception Eileen Grimshaw has been described as "a firm favourite with fans". Actress Sue Cleaver has commented on her character's popularity to the Belfast Telegraph in 2007: "Everyone seems to love Eileen. I've never had anybody come up and say they don't like her, so I suppose that's a good thing. She's an accessible character and I think everybody knows an Eileen. There's an Eileen in every street." Low Culture columnist Ruth Deller has included the character as one of the best soap creations during the 2000s. She stated, "Eileen arrived as the decade was just beginning and she’s kept us entertained throughout. Sue Cleaver is great and so is the character. A classic soap matriarch she has the potential to be one of the most enduring and popular characters the Street has ever seen." In 2007, actress Sue Cleaver was recognised for her