Jennie Mcalpine
“I’d have loved to have been in the old Dynasty!”
After 17 years on the cobbles playing Fiz – and 21 gruelling days in the I’m A Celebrity… jungle – Jennie is more than braced for your probing questions…
“Where is your favourite place to film on the Coronation Street set?”
Fiz and Tyrone’s house – although it isn’t really our house! It was, and always will be, Jack and Vera Duckworth’s, so it’s very precious to film on a set with so much history. I have lovely memories of watching that house when I was little, well before me being in the show. It’s really special.
“What is Alan Halsall [who plays Tyrone] like as a screen fiancé?”
I love Alan – he is the biggest wind-up merchant in the whole place! If anything funny or embarrassing has happened to me on set, it’s probably down to Alan. We laugh all the time – sometimes too much – and we behave like a proper married couple sometimes as well. I make him a brew, and tell him off for putting his feet on the furniture!
“Are the young girls who play Hope and Ruby as mischievous off screen as they are on the television at the moment?”
They run rings around us! They know their lines better than us – and do the acting better than us! Honestly, they are adorable. Isabella [Flanagan], who plays Hope, had a lot to live up to as obviously her sister Amelia is in Emmerdale playing April. But she has taken to it like a duck to water. Macy who plays Ruby is a little star, too.
“Do you think that it would be a good twist if Ruby’s mother Kirsty Soames was to make a return?”
That’s not the first time I’ve been asked that question! I’d love to revisit that story, as it was so powerful, and I suppose I understand why people think it might happen. There is a good reason for Kirsty to reappear as Ruby is her daughter. I’ve not heard anything, but who knows? It could happen at any time!
“What were your best and worst experiences in the I’m
A Celebrity… jungle?”
Being away from my little boy, Albert, was the hardest thing, but I made such lovely friends in there and they got me through it. The best moment was probably that very first episode when we walked the plank.
“What is Alan Halsall [Tyrone] like as a screen husband?”
“How long did it take you to recover from the whole experience after you landed in the UK?”
Well, we got back here on 15 December and before I knew it, Christmas was upon us. On the 20th, Albert decided that he wanted a toy digger, and we hadn’t properly written our list to Father Christmas at that point – so it was the first time that Santa had heard about it! He had to work very hard to get a digger in five days, but he got it. Other than that, it felt very strange eating lots of rich Christmas food after our rations in camp. Everybody from the show was messaging on our Whatsapp group saying, “Ugh, I feel sick!”.
“Where is the strangest place you’ve ever been recognised?”
A funeral. It’s possibly the most insensitive place I’ve ever been recognised, but yes that’s happened to me more than once. It was the wrong timing, but I understand that it was probably their only chance to say hello.
“Can you recall what you bought with your first Corrie pay cheque?”
Well, it was a combination of a few pay cheques as I saved up to buy my first car. I’d just passed my driving test, and bought myself a little Vauxhall Corsa.
“What is your favourite dish on the menu at your restaurant, Annies, in Manchester?”
If I was picking a dessert it would have to be the sticky toffee pudding with custard. My husband Chris is used to catering for lots of people and he is great at making desserts – but if you ask him to make you a sticky toffee pudding, he’ll make 67 of them and you have to eat them all. That’s when it gets a bit tricky!
“Who was your celebrity crush when you were younger?”
I liked Howard from Take That. It was always a toss up between Howard and Jason, and I was so upset when the band split up the first time. It was only Robbie who left originally, though, so I thought that was okay as neither Howard nor Jason had gone. I shouldn’t have said that about Robbie – he might be a Corrie fan!
“If you could appear in a rival soap for one day, which would it be?”
I would have to say Dynasty. There is a new series out now, but I think I’d want to be in the original version with Joan Collins. I would love one of those classic fights that she used to have!
“What’s your fave dish at your restaurant, Annies?”