Corrie's Sally Ann Matthews, 52, says her racy scenes leave sons mortified
Coronation Street landlady Jenny Connor has had her share of suitors – but actor Sally Ann Matthews insists her character has nothing to be ashamed of.
The 52-year-old is eight years into her second stint on the cobbles, having first played Jenny as a teenager in 1986.
She relishes guiding the Rovers Return boss through her various romantic adventures – and she thinks there’s a serious message behind the fun.
“A girl has needs!” Sally Ann laughs. “But I don’t know how she has the energy, because I know I haven’t!
“It’s really important to show older women in a positive light and show them having passionate relationships – I’m all for that. Just because you’ve had kids or you’re a certain age doesn’t mean that road is closed off to you.
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Sally's character Jenny O'Connor has plenty of passionate scenes“In years gone by, you would have been seen as some kind of strumpet, rather than just as a woman who’s still vibrant and active and looking for a partner, rather than accepting being a spinster of the parish.”
Sally Ann’s grown-up sons may beg to differ, however.
She says: “They always seem to walk through the room just when Jenny is about to snog somebody or be suggestive. They’ll just be passing through and they hear my voice on screen and turn round and look and then say: ‘Jesus, mother!’ and turn round and walk out!”
Since her return to the show in 2015, Jenny dated garage owner Kevin Webster, before marrying businessman Jonny Connor. They split after her fling with Ronnie Bailey and Jonny died in 2021, drowning as he saved Jenny’s life.
She has also had relationships with engineer Leo Thompkins and businessman Owen Longford.
Corrie fans will soon be shocked when she falls into the arms of serial killer Stephen Reid – and Sally Ann’s sons James, 24, and Louis, 22, might need to leave the room again.
Sally Ann, from Oldham, Gtr Manchester, but now living in London, says passionate kissing scenes are part of the job.
“I just get on with it,” she explains. “Todd Boyce, who plays Stephen, is so adorable that it’s easy and the kisses can be very technical.
Sally says the scenes are good as they show older women in a positive light (ITV)“The first time we kissed, we actually had to go: ‘We kiss this side, this side, then this side, look at each other and then hug. I’ll go to the right, which means you go to the left.’
“And while you then see us going upstairs to spend the night together, you don’t see anything else. It’s left to the imagination. No-one needs to see my stretch marks!”
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James and Louis have recently moved back in with Sally Ann and her lawyer husband Nick Rhodes. The actress recently took to Instagram to share some rare pictures of Louis at his university graduation, in his cap and gown alongside his Mum. “I was very proud,” Sally Ann beams. “And my older son has just done a Masters.
“They’re both back at home now and on the job hunt. It’s the first time in 23 years that I’ve not got one of them in education, which feels strange.”
Sally Ann spent five years on the cobbles from 1986-1991, before a 23-year gap in which she briefly appeared in Emmerdale. Since 2018, Jenny has run the Rovers Return, but regular viewers will know she has been forced to sell up and that the future of the iconic pub is now in severe jeopardy.
Sally has been in the soap for years (ITV)With rival brewery company Waterfords intent on buying the pub, there’s no guarantee that the Rovers will keep its current staff, or even remain open.
“She thought that if she could survive the pandemic, she could survive anything,” Sally Ann reflects. “She did everything she could to save it, but the cost of living crisis and the fact people don’t go out as much as they used to do, all played their part.
“She’s absolutely devastated. The pandemic showed her that the Rovers is a place where the community can come together and laugh and fight and cry and break up and make up.
“She remembers it being a special place when she was a teenager and she recalls the laughter coming from it and she wanted to keep that alive.
“She sells the pub thinking that she can stay on as manager. But then it looks like the Rovers might not have any future at all.”
Sally Ann was only 15 when she arrived on the cobbles as the feisty, trouble-making daughter of Alan Bradley and foster daughter of Rita Tanner. She stayed for six years and while she had a successful career after leaving, she admits the role of Jenny did initially affect her career.
“For a long time it held me back, because I was getting offered rebellious 16 year-olds when I was nearly 30,” she explains.
She appeared in a host of shows, from Emmerdale and Doctors to Heartbeat and The Catherine Tate Show. But the role of Jenny remained dear to her heart. Having played her for so long she not surprisingly knows her character inside out and is so passionate about getting Jenny’s look just right, that she even shops for her.
“I’m very involved in costume,” she acknowledges. “I did a big shop at John Lewis last week – they’ve got everything that is good for Jenny in there. Or I’ll see something when I’m out and take a picture of it and send it to the costume department.
“Although Jenny dresses smartly, I love the fact that she’s retained a bit of the 1980s.” Sally Ann currently has no plans to move on from the Street and other things. She says: “I do occasionally get itchy feet, but there are opportunities to scratch that artistic itch – I did a play last year and I’ve done short films in the past.
“I’m finding the journey from London to Manchester a bit tougher as I get older. But I’ve still got the same appetite for it that I ever had.
“If that ever went, that’s when I’d go. I’m not somebody who does something at half measures.”
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