{"id":38101,"date":"2025-08-01T12:28:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T12:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/38101\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T12:28:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T12:28:07","slug":"coronation-street-icon-axed-after-39-years-on-itv-soap-in-bombshell-latest-cull-tv-radio-showbiz-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/38101\/","title":{"rendered":"Coronation Street icon axed after 39 years on ITV soap in bombshell latest cull | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sally Ann Matthews has reportedly been axed from Coronation Street <\/a>after 39 years. The icon is known for her role as Jenny Connor in the long-running ITV<\/a> soap. According to The Sun<\/a>, Sally has been left “devastated by the decision.” The publication reported that a source said: “Sal\u2019s devastated by the decision. She was central to the soap for so long as Rovers landlady but bosses wanted to go in a new direction. Her late-night Instagram<\/a> rants haven\u2019t helped matters, but ultimately it was a story-led decision by the team. The writing was very much on the wall when Jenny lost the Rovers, but an exciting exit has been planned for her.”<\/p>\n

Express Online has contacted ITV and a representative of Sally Ann Matthews for comment.<\/p>\n

Sally Ann made her debut as Jenny Connor in 1986 and made a return in 2006, which was only meant to be for a few months. However, her character ended up staying for over a decade and has become a central figure in the ITV show.<\/p>\n

The source also said: “Sal\u2019s Corrie<\/a> royalty through and through and the decision hasn\u2019t gone down well. There\u2019s a lot of people going to be sitting there worried about their own futures.”<\/p>\n

It comes after it was reported<\/a> that ITV will axe one in 10 stars on Emmerdale<\/a> and Coronation Street<\/a> due to budget cuts.<\/p>\n

The network\u2019s profits have reportedly dipped by 44% to \u00a399 million over the first half of 2025, meaning a renewed push to rein in production costs.<\/a><\/p>\n

Coronation Street<\/a> currently employs 84 permanent cast members, while Emmerdale<\/a> has 70. Sources have previously claimed<\/a> that executives are now urging soap producers to slash their growing budgets, with cast numbers a vital area under review.<\/p>\n

A source previously said: \u201cIt\u2019s brutal. We\u2019ve known it was on the cards for a while, but they\u2019re really cranking it up now and it\u2019s across the soaps.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re looking to save millions and Corrie<\/a> and Emmerdale<\/a> are the obvious places. They\u2019re very expensive shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany who have been there for a long time are reliant on their income staying as it is. The amount of cast has spiralled out of control, and focusing on dialogue, not action, could also save money.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sally Ann Matthews has reportedly been axed from Coronation Street after 39 years. The icon is known for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[22177,2525,22178,22170,22176,22173,96,59,22172,22171,22174,22175,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-38101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-breaking-news-corrie","tag-coronation-street","tag-coronation-street-sally-ann-matthews","tag-corrie","tag-corrie-axe-character","tag-corrie-news","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-itv-coronation-street","tag-itv-corrie","tag-jenny-connor-corrie","tag-sally-ann-matthews-corrie","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}