Guess who’s back? (Picture: ITV/Danielle Baguley/Shutterstock)
One of Coronation Street’s most popular recurring characters is back on the cobbles, with Donnaleigh Bailey, the actress behind local bobby, Jess Heywood, taking to Instagram to announce her return.
First appearing all the way back in 2017 as a mentor, and later friend, of baby copper Craig Tinker (Colson Smith). She was absolutely devastated when he was murdered on duty by Mick Michaelis (Joe Layton), having formed a genuine bond with her mentee.
While Jess has appeared sporadically since, fans have shown their excitement, flooding the comments on her post with kind messages, expressing their joy at her return.
‘Forever grateful’, Donnaleigh began the caption on the carousel of images, one on the cobbles, one in front of the Rover’s Return and a final one showing her her in police get-up.
‘Time on my favourite street playing my favourite copper Jess’ she continued.
‘Some lovely stuff coming up on your teleboxes’, she completed the caption, alongside a number of Corrie-related hashtags.
@statesidestreetpodcast commented: ‘Nice! We hope this is a sign that you’re a regular on the Cobbles! Can’t go wrong with more Jess’, while @noiry9 added: ‘An episode always shines brighter with Jess in it. Hope you’re going to be a regular sometime soon’
@tadpolereeves asked: ‘am currently on the sofa feeling sick and watching you on Classic Doctors! Are you a mainstay on the Cobbles now!? I hope so!’ while @cookingwithtubz also referenced Donnaleigh’s Doctor’s stint: ‘Loved you on Doctors and love it when you pop up on Corrie’.
@stephen2912 posted: ‘Your an absolute incredible iconic and super talented actress,’ to which Donnaleigh replied with a slew of love hearts.
Jess was Craig’s police mentor (Picture: ITV/Shutterstock)
She was utterly broken when he was murdered (Picture: Danielle Baguley/Shutterstock)
Jess Heywood isn’t Donnaleigh’s first Coronation Street role with the actress previously having appeared as two other characters. In 2015, she played an unnamed nurse that worked at Rosamund Street medical centre, tending to a badly wounded Simon Barlow (Alex Bain), who’d cut his arm deeply.
A year later, Donnaleigh reappeared as another copper, PC Woodruff, who she played on-and-off throughout 2016.
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A year later she was cast in her most prominent role to date, as Jess Heywood, tying in directly to Craig Tinker’s police storyline.
Jess’ first appearance began when she clashed with brand-new copper, Craig, at the station. The two went to war over a mug, from which Craig always drank his pre-shift brew, until Jess disturbed his routine by supping her own tea from it.
Jess and Craig’s relationship began with a clash over a mug (Picture: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Throughout their first shift together, Jess threw Craig a number of challenges to weigh up his potential as a copper. Deeply moralistic Craig stood up to her a number of times when it appeared she was cutting corners and slacking, quickly earning her respect.
As Craig’s battle with OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder, became more intense, Jess ensured that a number of mistakes at work wouldn’t come to light, though made it crystal clear that he needed to seek and accept psychological help in order to remain on the force.
Jess was on the scene when Craig was fatally attacked by Mick and was left heartbroken when he passed away as a result of his injuries, remaining on screen in the aftermath as she processed the brutal loss of her student and friend, joining the nation in weeping over the sad demise of our Craigy.
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