Coronation Street star Sally Ann Matthews has revealed that the ITV soap has made a secret behind-the-scenes change when it comes to storylines, following feedback from fans.
The actor’s final scenes (which were changed last minute in the edit suite) as Jenny Connor aired this week, as the former Rovers landlady’s plans to snare George Shuttleworth backfired and she decided to leave Weatherfield and start afresh.
It was quite a modest exit, which not only suited Matthews, but is also typical of the way Corrie is doing things now.
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While explaining to the Conversation Street podcast that she enjoyed her “low-key” departure, she revealed that: “They don’t do exit stories anymore, unless you die.
“All the audience research, apparently, so I’ve been told, is that if the audience know that a character is leaving, they don’t invest in the storyline. So unless they’re gonna kill ya, you don’t get one.
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“‘Cause they [the audience] just go, ‘Oh well, we know she’s leaving, bluh bluh bluh, onto the next.’
“So that’s why pretty much the same with everyone, with Shelley [King], with Sue [Cleaver] — Sue got a storyline because Julie came back and was dying — but ultimately the thing again of starting in pastures new, it’s like everyone emigrates within 24 hours. I think I emigrated within about an hour!”
actor also revealed that the final scene she filmed wasn’t actually Jenny’s final scene, but one that aired a few days earlier in the week, involving Glenda’s disastrous speed dating event.
“It was one in the Rovers, I come in and then got a phone call from Rita to say she’d fallen over or something,” she recalled, adding that she didn’t want a big fuss made over her on her last day, but it ended up being unavoidable.
She joked that she didn’t like being the centre of attention, despite being an actor on one of Britain’s most popular shows.
