Corrie actress gets that sinking feeling
Sally Ann Matthews threw herself into stunts involving a giant sinkhole for Super Soap Week, writes
CORONATION Street star Sally Ann Matthews has admitted to having a change of heart after filming ‘epic’ stunt scenes.
The Jenny Connor actress is set to be at the forefront of some of the ITV soap’s biggest ever scenes next week.
The Rovers Return landlady will find herself being swallowed up by the sinkhole in the Platt’s back garden.
In recent episodes, viewers have seen Jenny getting lots of attention from newcomer Leo – who is working on fixing said sinkhole.
After originally trying to get him set up with step-daughter Daisy, Jenny was stunned to realise that Leo was actually more interested in her.
While Johnny has appeared to take his ex-wife’s new romance quite well, Carla breaks the news to Jenny that Johnny is moving to Bali leaving her stunned.
Later in the beer tent at Debbie’s House of Horrors event while on a date night with Leo, Jenny bumps into Johnny and tells him that she hopes he isn’t leaving because of her.
But as the pair share a heart-toheart, Ryan is quickly trying to evacuate to the area after the music cuts and just a hole was left in the ground where the generator was.
Leo tells David and Shona that he suspects it’s linked to the sinkhole in their garden.
Jenny then goes in search of Leo and a horrified Shona is soon watching on as Jenny is swallowed up by the ground.
Then, ignoring Shona’s words of warning, Johnny edges himself into the sinkhole, determined to rescue Jenny.
But the pair both become trapped in rising water as the rainstorm continues to cause havoc.
“She is worried about Leo and what he’s doing and his safety,” Sally Ann said of Jenny.
“All of a sudden the earth opens up.”
But Sally Ann wasn’t excited about being part of all the ‘Super Soap Week’ action.
“How many times have I said in interviews, ‘Give me a ten-page monologue, don’t give me anything to do.’
“I don’t like action, I bloody hate it,” she confessed.
“I thought getting tasered was bad,” Sally then joked referring to earlier this year when she was struck down by Sharon Bentley in broad daylight.
However, she has since had a change of heart.
“I got there and love it. I loved every single second of it,” Sally Ann admitted.
The stunning episodes were filmed over three weeks of day and night shoots with special effects used for the storm while the intricate underground sewerage system was designed and built at Space Studios in Manchester before being attached to a sophisticated pulley system so it could be lowered into a swimming pool for filming.
“I did write to Iain [MacLeod, Coronation Street’s executive producer] and Verity [MacLeod, assistant producer] after we’d finished the main six day section and said, ‘Please can I be in a sinkhole every week,’” Sally continued.
“Because I absolutely loved it.” Sally Ann said her initial reservations came as she’s self-admittedly “risk-averse” and “gets scared by stuff” because her “imagination goes into overdrive.”
But despite her u-turn on the stunt scenes, you won’t see Sally Ann doing anything crazy like SAS: Who Dares Wins.
“I’d never choose to do something like this,” she said. “I wouldn’t go out off my own back and do anything like this.”