10 Facts About… Sally Ann Matthews (Corrie’s Jenny)

1 Sally Ann was born in Oldham on 19 September 1970,

and now lives in London with her husband Nick and their teenage sons Louis and James. She prefers people not to refer to her as Sally and instead stick to the shortened version – her Twitter biog reads, ‘Always a Sal, never a Sally’.

2 Sally Ann already knew future Coronation Street co-star Michael Le Vell (Kevin) from drama school.

Both actors attended Oldham Theatre Workshop, and Michael was best mates with Sal’s brother. Other Corrie alumni from the same school include Anne Kirkbride (Deirdre Barlow), Sally Dyvenor (Sally) and Antony Cotton (Sean).

3 Sal has plenty of pals in soapland, but Emmerdale actress Michelle Hardwick (Vanessa) has a special place in her heart

– as she was there on the night Sally Ann met her husband, lawyer Nick Rhodes. “I met my husband when I was doing Romeo And Juliet in Liverpool,” she says. “I was with Michelle when this American guy bought us drinks. I wasn’t interested and had eye contact with my future husband, who eventually came over and rescued us – he doesn’t watch TV so didn’t know who I was!”

4

In 1986, 15-yearold Sal joined Corrie to play troubled teenager Jenny Bradley – fosterdaughter of Rita Fairclough. She stayed on the show until 1991, when Jenny left to shack up with married dentist Robert Weston. She made a brief return in 1993 to ask Rita for £30,000 after breaking up with Robert, but Rita gave her just £1,000 and threw her out. Jenny returned in 2015 as Kevin Webster’s internet date, and the rest is history…

5 While Inside Soap may regard the likes of Corrie’s Rita and Kev as the most famous faces Sal’s ever appeared on screen with, some may disagree. She shared the silver screen back in 1996 with a certain young star called Ewan Mcgregor, appearing in classic British film comedy Brassed Off. And while she wasn’t exactly the leading lady, her waitress character did get to serve Ewan a haddock!

6 In 2005, Sally Ann joined Emmerdale as farmer’s wife Sandra Briggs.

Sandra and her other half Craig battled the King family, who wanted to buy their land for development. The roles ended up being quite minor, and the pair departed the village after just six months. “I was the world’s best-paid extra!” jokes Sally Ann.

7 Some celebs hate Twitter, but Sal loves chatting to her fans.

She often talks about Jenny’s latest antics and can be found live-tweeting shows such as

Dancing On Ice and I’m A

Celebrity…. However, when Twitter trolls inevitably attack her for having red hair, Sally Ann shuts them down. “When someone’s randomly calling you a ginger doo-daa, then I’m going to bite back, aren’t I?” she explained to

Coronation Street

Blog in 2017.

8

Sophie Webster was almost Jenny’s stepdaughter, but Sal and co-star Brooke Vincent have more recently played mum and daughter in a short

film called Chapter 1: Liv. The movie tells the story of a girl who wakes up three weeks after a near-fatal car crash and is helped by her mother to remember what happened.

9

One of the stars of Sal’s Twitter and Instagram feeds is her gorgeous puppy Veto – a Border terrier who Sal and her family adopted last year. Veto has proved to be a big hit with Sal’s fans, who love to see the duo playing silly games together at home, celebrating Christmas and having adventures in UK beauty spots. 10

When Jenny finally married Johnny last year, Sally Ann had to straddle a motorbike wearing a wedding dress. Thankfully, she had help

from two Hells Angels who were on hand to get Jenny to the venue on time. “We had Tattitude and Toothless, and they were amazing,” she laughs. “I had massive bruises on my knees – the only thing I could liken it to was horse-riding, so I just gripped on.

I was cacking it!”