Sally Dynevor
“Everything’s falling apart for Sally – she may have to sell her house!”
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She’s languished behind bars for weeks, but Sally Metcalfe will finally get the chance to defend herself properly this week, as the case reaches court.
There are lots of twists and turns ahead, with con man Duncan working overtime to make sure Sally takes the rap. Although plenty of people might like snobby Sally to get knocked down a peg or two, the brutal reality of her position will be laid bare, and it’ll take a hard heart to feel nothing for her predicament. For Corrie star Sally Dynevor, it’s been a fascinating chapter in her character’s story – and has certainly given her pause for thought…
“It’s been harrowing to film – because everything’s falling apart for Sally and she might even have to sell her house!” she explains, as she joins us for a chat about her alter ego’s big year. “It’s sad and awful, and it made me think about people who are in this position in real life. It can happen through no fault of their own, just through naivety or something terrible. There must be loads of people out there who have gotten themselves into situations that they really didn’t want to be in, just like Sally.”
As the trial kicks off, it will hinge on Sally’s ability to prove that Duncan is a liar and a crook. That’s easier said than done when he’s stitched her up so well, and after Duncan takes the stand and lies through his teeth about their ‘romance’, her heart sinks.
“Everything Duncan says is a lie!” states Sally. “It’s at this moment that Sally realises how bad her situation is looking. He makes this passionate speech about how he hadn’t had an affair with another woman before Sally, and brings up her kiss with Kevin on the night before she married Tim. Now, Sally fears that she might be going to prison, and she’s also worried that Tim is going to believe she had an affair.”
She has every right to worry, because Tim does doubt her, and he’s been getting far too close to smitten sister-in-law Gina.
Although her character’s marriage is at stake, Sally tells us that the chance to work with Connie
Hyde (Gina), Joe Duttine (Tim) and Brooke Vincent (Sophie) in the jail visiting room scenes has been great fun.
“I love playing the prison scenes because it feels as if I’m in a different show!” she enthuses. “It’s a nice space because I get to work with just
my family and then brand-new people – like the prisoners and all the officers too. It’s been very interesting for me, and I’ve quite liked it. I know that I shouldn’t really say I’ve enjoyed being in prison, but I have!”
Another benefit of Sally’s shocking incarceration is that it’s given the actress a lighter filming schedule for a while – so much so that she’s taken up a new hobby to pass the time!
“It’s great because I go in and do two full days of filming on the prison set, and then I am off for the rest of the week – I’m loving it!” she laughs. “It’s funny because Sally started off doing yoga in prison, so I thought, ‘Right,
I’ll go and do yoga’. Now I’ve joined a hot yoga class, and I’m addicted!
I go there almost every day, and it’s given me a whole new lease of life.”
Sadly, for the fictional Sally, her life has never been worse, but could there be a light at the end of the tunnel? Sally realises that the night Duncan has told the court that she was with him in a hotel, she was actually visiting little Jack in hospital. All she needs is the CCTV footage to prove she was there to show Duncan to be a liar.
But it’s going to take time – and that’s something Sally doesn’t have. So in order to postpone the trial, she engineers it so she ends up in hospital! Her choice to deliberately get injured leaves Gina and Tim horrified, and it’s certainly a very different Sally to the one viewers know and love.
“This all comes when Sophie reminds her that she’s done everything by the book and it’s not getting her anywhere,” muses Sally. “Only taking matters into her own hands is going to help, otherwise she could face being locked up for the rest of her life. I think that’s the moment it dawns on her how important it is to delay the trial.”
Sally’s decision to take an enormous risk is going to change her life in one way or another. But we wonder – are viewers behind her, or does anyone want to see Sally do a long stretch?
“In the supermarket, viewers come up to me and say, ‘OMG, I can’t bear Sally being in prison, it’s awful!’” she grins. “My daughter Hattie, who is just 14, told me, ‘I can’t watch it, I don’t like you being in jail.’ There is the odd one that’s really pleased she’s in prison because Sally is so annoying all the time. But most people want to know when she’s getting out!”