Coronation Street star Sally Ann Matthews just revealed her big soap exit was meant to be very different.
The ITV series bid farewell to one of its mainstays last night as Matthews left the role of Jenny Connor behind. The ex-landlady left the cobbles for a fresh start away from Weatherfield, though not before a last stop to the Rovers.
Speaking on her exit, Matthews said the original edit was meant to include Bet Gilroy, the Rovers’ former landlady played by Julie Goodyear.
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“Fun fact, when she walks into the Rovers and Bonnie Tyler started to play, and Jenny was looking around, what was supposed to happen was you were gonna see Bet Gilroy. And she was gonna talk,” Matthews revealed on Conversation Street.
Jenny’s exit was changed in the final edit to include Rita Tanner instead.
ITV
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“For whatever reason, when they came to the edit, they didn’t feel it worked as well. They must have felt it worked best with Barbara [Tanner star Barbara Knox],” Matthews explained.
Weighing in on her decision to leave, Matthews dispelled rumours of an axe, saying it had been a mutual decision with the producers of Corrie.
“I was kind of contemplating [leaving] last year,” she said, explaining that Daisy star Charlotte Jordan’s exit played a role in her decision. “When I knew she was going, I was kind of like, ‘Do I want to stay? Do I not?”
ITV
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Matthews added that what the Corrie producers had in mind for her after she took over The Kabin “wasn’t gonna happen cause they didn’t have space for it” on set, which led to her decision to leave the soap.
In her final scenes, Jenny made amends with George Shuttleworth, who caught her lying about Rita’s health.
Jenny admitted that she’d made Rita’s fall sound worse than it was. She came clean to Rita, who handed her the money for the fresh start she had been looking for.
Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.
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