Her storylines have often included her relationships with Dennis Stringer (Charles Dale), Ed Jackson (Chris Walker), Pat Stanaway (Sean Hughes), Jerry Morton (Michael Starke), Jesse Chadwick (John Thomson), Paul Kershaw (Tony Hirst), Adrian Mortimer (Mark Moraghan) and Michael Rodwell (Les Dennis), as well as her marriage to serial criminal mastermind Pat Phelan (Connor McIntyre).

Vikram Desai (Chris Bisson) gives Eileen a ride in his cab and, impressed by her local knowledge, ends up employing her to operate the radio at his taxi firm, StreetCars, which he runs with Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson).

Following Jason and Candice Stowe (Nikki Sanderson) placing an ad for her in a lonely hearts column in a newspaper, she dates cleaner Harry Flagg (Iain Rogerson) but they decide to remain friends.

She dates kebab shop owner Jerry Morton (Michael Starke), but dumps him in 2008 after he begins taking more of an interest in his children rather than her.

This seems to be proved when Sarah falls pregnant, but the baby, a boy named Billy, died shortly after being born prematurely following a placental abruption.

This rivalry results in Eileen being the prime suspect when Gail is stalked by someone claiming to be her late husband, Richard Hillman (Brian Capron), in 2006.

He meets Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne) in the bookies and as he places a bet, Eileen phones him wanting to know where he is and he lies, claiming to be on the bus to Weatherfield.

In 2010, cracks begin appearing in the relationship after Eileen suspects that he is attracted to Julie and he takes his parents on holiday instead of her, following a bet that he wins.

Upset, she tells Julie what has happened and they devise a plan to break into the builder's yard to get documents that prove that Owen has been committing tax evasion for years.

Eileen meets Paul Kershaw (Tony Hirst), a fireman, when her head is caught in the railings on her birthday on Underworld's roof.

Norris Cole (Malcolm Hebden) alerts the Bistro, and Eileen is horrified when she witnesses Paul risk his life to save Stella Price (Michelle Collins) and Karl Munro (John Michie) from the burning building.

The pair return home where they have an explosive argument and Paul decides to move in with Julie and her partner Brian Packham (Peter Gunn).

Eileen hears from her lodger Sean and son Jason that there has been a large house fire in Weatherfield and asks Paul whether he had been called to it when he returns.

Whilst playing darts at the Rovers with Jason and Steve, an oblivious Paul makes a racist comment just as Lloyd Mullaney (Craig Charles) and his daughter Jenna Kamara (Krissi Bohn) enter the pub, which angers them both as they are black.

Eileen and Lloyd's partner Mandy Kamara (Pamela Nomvete) both agree that the pair should put it behind them, which it appears to be, before Jenna's girlfriend Sophie Webster (Brooke Vincent) calls Paul's work and reports him for racism.

She is later shaken when Jason's estranged father Tony Stewart (Terence Maynard) returns to the street in 2014, and is not very pleased when Liz begins flirting with him.

Eileen is later concerned when her friend Lloyd suffers a heart attack during Hayley Cropper's (Julie Hesmondhalgh) charity fun run.

She goes out with Adrian on numerous occasions, but Todd – attempting to exact revenge on his mother and brother for his attack – sets up a fake account on the same website and pretends to be a man named Jeff who lives in Dubai.

Michael admits the kiss with Gail out of guilt, but she storms over to the salon and starts throwing hair conditioner bottles at Eileen.

The characters have a long history of catfights and insults between them, animosity that stems from the acrimonious break-up of Eileen's son, Todd and Gail's daughter, Sarah.

"[4] Media critic Grace Dent has summarised the dislike that exists between the characters in a review in The Guardian in 2006: "Like most fine inter-family feuds, no one knows the true beginning, but it's safe to say that Coronation Street's Eileen Grimshaw and Gail Platt have hated each other for ages.

Eileen sees Gail's daughter Sarah Lou as a giant, repugnant, mascara-clad Venus flytrap, suckering in baby-daddies for her illegitimate brat Bethany.

Gail Platt thinks Eileen's kids Todd and Jason are scummy, duplicitous, gutter-dwellers and their mother a snivelling apologist for their catalogue of spite.

[2] She has revealed that she and Gregson play jokes with the bookings diary on Eileen's desk during filming of the cab office, where both characters work: "We write comments about each other in it.

"[6] Press rumours began to circulate about a possible romantic pairing between the characters; however, this proved to be a red herring, Eileen spends the night in bed with a drunken Steve to avoid sleeping in discomfort on the floor.

[7] During the episodes, some of Malta's historic streets and churches, landscapes and Gozo's red sand beach Ramla Bay were featured.

"[9] Property website easier.com stated that "viewers have been captivated by the sun-soaked honey-coloured buildings, the charming historic streets and churches and beautiful landscapes not to mention the glorious red sand beach of Ramla Bay.

It was hard not to be envious as Eileen and Steve sipped cocktails next to the pool in the gleaming sunshine and this lifestyle was all the more alluring when the camera’s panned back to the dreary streets of Weatherfield.

[3] Next, Eileen fell for Ed Jackson (Chris Walker) in 2006, before discovering he had served time in prison for killing Emily Bishop's husband Ernest in a storyline that screened in 1978.

"[3] In 2009, Digital Spy editor Kris Green praised Sue Cleaver's part in the Julie/ Paula/ Colin reveal when he stated; 'The outstanding performances from Katy Cavanagh (Julie) and Sharon Duce (Paula) mixed with Street legend Barbara Knox (Rita) and the still criminally underused Sue Cleaver (Eileen) make for compelling viewing'[16] Sarah Ellis of Inside Soap opined that "poor" Eileen should join a convent because all of her romances end badly.