Sally Ann Matthews has given a brutally honest account of her Coronation Street exit – and has said the show needs to “stay in its lane”.
The actress originally appeared as Jenny Bradley in the ITV soap between 1986 and 1991, as the daughter of villainous Alan Bradley. She returned for a brief stint two years later.
Jenny’s connection to the cobbles – foster mother Rita Tanner (Barbara Knox) – meant she was able to return for another storyline in 2015, which saw her entwined in a romance with Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell).
Matthews then made a full-time comeback the following year, and her on-screen family was gradually expanded. Jenny married Johnny Connor (Richard Hawley), and step-daughter from her first marriage, Daisy Midgley (Charlotte Jordan), was introduced.
The women used money stolen from Underworld to buy the Rovers Return from pub chain LS Waterford, but were eventually shamed into handing it over to rightful owner Carla Connor (Alison King).
Shamefaced, Jenny left for a new life in Tenerife.
Now, four months on from her low-key exit, Matthews has lifted the lid on her feelings towards the long-running soap opera and why she chose to leave.
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“I’m very fortunate that I’m in a position where I can say, ‘I don’t want to do that’. It doesn’t excite me. It doesn’t challenge me. It doesn’t spark joy!” she told The Daily Mirror.
“I’m 55 now, I don’t wanna waste my time doing stuff that I’m not enjoying with people that I am not enjoying doing it with.”
During Jenny’s final months, Glenda Shuttleworth (Jodie Prenger) took charge of the pub’s management and Bradley was supposedly working in The Kabin. However, as Matthews explains, we actually saw very little of her in the newsagents because of a lack of studio space.
“I was switching off from the show a bit,” she revealed.
“I was supposed to go into The Kabin and then they couldn’t get The Kabin set in because there were lots of hospital sets and police station sets.”
According to Matthews, the serial’s decision to focus on storylines surrounding Weatherfield’s policing department and the local hospital had ruffled feathers with her fellow cast members.
“We, as a cast, have been having these conversations for three or four years, and the crew – their family and people in the street, saying they don’t watch it anymore. They said ‘Oh it’s all about the police, I don’t know who anybody is.’
“But all the research was coming back saying audiences want spoilers, non-linear storytelling, they watch true crime dramas on Netflix, so they want a lot of crime.
“Obviously for ITV, Corrie brings in a big audience, which helps them hugely with their overall figures and it would be a big risk for someone to take, but Corrie needs to stay in its lane and be what it is – which is a soap!”
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