CORRIE AT 60 - ‘CORRIE'S ALMOST PART OF MY DNA NOW'

AFTER MORE THAN THREE DECADES ACTRESS SALLY DYNEVOR STILL COUNTS HER BLESSINGS FOR LANDING THE ROLE THAT CHANGED HER LIFE

- TRICIA MARTIN

It’s 34 years since Sally Dynevor (then Sally Whittaker) made her Corrie debut. Now, as the world’s longest-running soap opera celebrates 60 years on-screen, she’s one of its longest-serving cast members. And a lot has happened to her Street namesake in that time.

Cobbles legend Hilda Ogden thought Sally was too downmarket to be her lodger Kevin Webster’s girlfriend. But they married and had a roller-coaster relationship for decades. These days Sally’s got a new soulmate in Tim, an inspired pairing with actor Joe Duttine.

The years have been action-packed and even incorrigible Corrie gossip Hilda would have been lost for words if she’d heard that, one day, Sally “from the wrong side of town” would be Mayor of Weatherfield!

You never know what’s around the corner for the Street’s greatest social climber. And that’s just one of the reasons Sally Dynevor, 57, still gets a thrill when she picks up a script…

Sally, as Corrie turns 60, can you believe you’ve been in it for so long?

No! I still feel like a newcomer, it’s unbelievable.

But it took you a few attempts to get your foot on the cobbles, didn’t it?

I’d just come out of drama school. I auditioned to be a posh girlfriend of Kevin’s but that would never have worked! And also a milkman’s daughter, but I didn’t get that either. Then I got a call about this character called Sally and thought, “That’s a good omen, she’s got the same name.” I got a few episodes and then it was a year. And the years have just rolled by …