Abi to help Corrie’s Sally meets the mums touched by Abi role
I was so Berry proud to please Queen of Puds
Mary reassures our Janine after sampling her spinach ravioli dish
She plays a mum who’s had to give up her children, and now Coronation Street’s
is helping others who have been through the same anguish.
As recovering addict Abi Franklin in the soap, Sally’s storyline struck a chord with families in difficulty.
She has been working with charity Motherwell Cheshire for more than a year, and has been touched by the stories of women helped by the organisation.
Sally, 38, says: “The storyline resonated with the women they worked with and they asked me if
I’d like to get involved.
“I volunteered and a lot of women came up to me and said, ‘You’ve kept me going, I’ve been through that situation’. It knocked me off my feet a little, I wasn’t expecting that. As much as you think, ‘This is a brilliant storyline’, these things do resonate with people’s lives. “It made me realise even more how much people get something from it.”
In the show, recovering crack addict Abi gave up her young twins to let them have a better life with their foster parents, who wanted to adopt them.
Sally says playing Abi made her feel lucky about her own life. She explains: “I’ve had a lovely life with all the support I could possibly want, yet I’ve still gone off the rails at times, made bad decisions and messed up.
“It did make me think, ‘If I hadn’t had that support, where would I be now? What state would I be in?’
“It does give you food for thought and it’s good to remember that.”
Sally recently moved in with boyfriend and co-star Joe Duttine, 49, who plays Tim Metcalfe in the ITV soap. She smiles: “It’s going brilliantly.”
The actress joined Corrie in 2017, after starring as Kelly Maguire in Channel 4’s Shameless.
She says of life on the cobbles: “It’s calmer – and warmer too… because I get to wear clothes, which is lovely!”
motherwell cheshirecio.com
There have been many amazing telly moments this year but my own highlight was being crowned cooking champ by Queen of Puds Mary Berry.
My spinach and ricotta ravioli went down a storm with the food legend as she launched the new series of BBC’s Best Home Cook.
I got a taste of what it’s like for those budding bakers and chefs who go before Queen Mary.
There were lots of nerves when she took her first bite – imagine if I’d given Mary Berry food poisoning?!
But the national treasure, alongside chef Angela Hartnett and presenter Chris Bavin escaped unscathed.
Catch the new series at 8pm on Thursday on BBC One.
We know
is no nun. But he still dressed as Mother Superior for the upcoming Great British Bake Off New Year special.
Fellow judge and presenters and
dressed as schoolgirls for the show, in which they are joined by the cast of Derry Girls.
Paul said: “I tried a Northern Ireland accent, but it turned out badly.” Watch it at 7.40pm on Wednesday on Channel 4.