Sally Ann Matthews has left Coronation Street and has properly left this time. After nearly forty years of playing Jenny Connor on and off, she’s actually gone.
I’ll be honest, when she posted on Instagram back in August saying she was leaving, I thought she’d be back by Christmas. That’s what always happens with Corrie, innit? However, her last scenes aired in October, and she is not expected to return. Well, not for ages anyway.
She Only Meant to Stay Five Months
The mad thing is, when she came back in 2015, the plan was five months. Just a quick return, then off again. Instead, she stayed ten years because she loved it. Ten years! That’s longer than some marriages last.
Sally Ann Matthews has played Jenny Connor on Coronation Street through loads of big storylines. Running the Rovers, dealing with that serial killer Stephen, all the drama with Kevin Webster’s son. She’s 54 now and lives in London with her husband Nick, who’s a judge, and they’ve got two boys.
She said on Instagram it was time to do the parts she’d always wanted to play when she “grew up”. Fair enough, really. You can’t play the same character forever, can you?
Started When She Was Fifteen
People forget how young she was when she first turned up. In January 1986, Sally Ann was fifteen years old, playing Jenny Bradley. Daughter of that absolute wrong’un Alan Bradley. She had to fit filming around school at Blue Coat in Oldham.
Her dad was a headteacher. She’d joined Oldham Theatre Workshop as a kid—same place loads of Corrie actors came from. I was planning to go to uni to train as a speech therapist, but then I got the audition, and that was that.
Those late 80s storylines were massive. Jenny’s thing with Rita, her dodgy dad, and then Alan getting killed by a tram in Blackpool in 1989. Everyone watched that. She stayed till 1991, came back briefly in 1993, then nothing till 2015.
So Why’d She Actually Leave?
Now this is where it gets messy. Sally Ann’s Instagram made it sound like her choice, as she says that she wanted new roles and all that. But The Sun reckoned it wasn’t actually her decision. Bosses made what they called a “storyline-led decision” to write Jenny out.
Some show source told them Sally Ann’s “an incredible talent”, but producers felt “it was the right time for Jenny’s chapter to close, at least for now.” That “at least for now” bit’s interesting though, yeah?
Sally Ann had dropped hints that things weren’t brilliant. Back in June 2024, she did an Instagram Live saying she had “like a million years off” from filming. She’d been to Cyprus twice in five weeks. She even said she might look for a job whilst she was away. Her episode count dropped loads too—189 episodes in 2023, only 68 in 2024 and 70 in 2025.
Why did Sally Ann Matthews leave Corrie? In another interview, she mentioned what producers had in mind for her after Jenny took over The Kabin “wasn’t gonna happen cause they didn’t have space for it” on set. That’s when she realised it might be time to go.
Also read: You Think You Know Danniella Westbrook?
They Changed Her Exit Last Minute
This is mental. Sally Ann told the Conversation Street podcast her exit was supposed to be completely different. When Jenny walked into the Rovers for the last time with Bonnie Tyler playing, viewers were originally going to see Bet Gilroy having a chat with Jenny.
But when they got to editing, producers decided it didn’t work. So they changed it to Rita Tanner instead, which makes more sense given their history.
In those final scenes, Jenny made things right with George after lying about Rita’s health. She’d made Rita’s fall sound worse than it was to try and one-up Christina over dating George. Classic Jenny, really. Rita gave her money for a fresh start away from Weatherfield.
Coronation Street’s Sally Ann Matthews exits the show in October 2025, and Jenny just… left. Drove off. No dramatic death, no prison, just a woman deciding she needed a change.
The Actress Behind Jenny
Sally Ann Matthews’ age is 54. Born in September 1970 in Oldham. She’s been doing this since she was a teenager. That’s nearly forty years of being recognised everywhere, of your character’s dramas becoming national talking points.
She’s done other telly. Emmerdale in 2005 as Sandra Briggs, though that was a bit rubbish; even the boss admitted casting her in a minor role was a mistake. She’s been in Heartbeat, Doctors, Waterloo Road, My Mad Fat Diary, and Brassed Off. Theatre tours, too.
But Jenny Connor’s what people know her for. That’s her legacy, whether she likes it or not.
In 2018, she discovered on that DNA Secrets documentary that Amanda Barrie, who played Alma Baldwin, is actually her cousin. Neither of them knew. You work with someone for years, then find out you’re related. Bonkers.
Sally Ann Matthews’ children—she’s got two sons, James and Louis, with her husband Nick. They live in London now. A bit of distance from Manchester and all the memories.
What Happens Now?
So Jenny’s gone, and we’re supposed to believe she’s not coming back. But this is Corrie we’re on about. Sally Ann left in 1991 and came back in 2015. That’s 24 years. Everyone thought that was it; then, suddenly, she was back.
The show’s losing loads of familiar faces lately. Helen Worth ended her 50-year run as Gail Platt over Christmas. Sue Cleaver left after two decades as Eileen Grimshaw. Colson Smith, who played Craig Tinker for 14 years, was killed off earlier this year. Feels like the end of something.
Sally Ann said recently, “You’re not going to be seeing Jenny for quite a long while. So that’s that.” Quite a long while. Not forever. Just… a long while.
Why It Matters
Look, it’s just a soap. People come and go. But when someone’s been part of your telly viewing for nearly four decades, even if it wasn’t constant, it hits different. Sally Ann Matthews brought Jenny to life three separate times.
Jenny’s been a brilliant character. Started as a troubled teenager, became a kidnapper at one point (remember when she nicked Kevin’s son?), then turned into a beloved Rovers landlady. She’s been married, widowed, betrayed, and manipulated. She’s done dodgy things herself. She’s been properly three-dimensional.
The fact they changed her final scenes last minute shows how much care went into her exit. They wanted it right. They wanted it to honour nearly forty years of history.
What’s Next?
She said she wants to play those parts she always hoped she would. At 54, she’s got loads of time left for a brilliant career. She can do comedy and drama. Theatre, telly, maybe films.
But part of me wonders if she’ll miss it. Ten years is the age to be somewhere. You make friends, you know everyone, and you’ve got your routine. The Rovers set, the cobbles, the corner shop—that becomes your world. Walking away from that must be weird, even if you want to.
There’s a quote from Colson Smith when he left that keeps sticking with me. He said he’d done “some mad things, met the Queen,” but it was “the simple stuff” he’d miss most. Just turning up to work at Coronation Street. I bet Sally Ann feels the same.
The End (Maybe)
Coronation Street’s Sally Ann Matthews exits the show after creating one of the most memorable characters. Jenny Connor née Bradley will go down as one of the great Corrie women. She ran the Rovers, she survived tragedy, and she made mistakes and tried to put them right.
Sally Ann Matthews gave us nearly forty years of her life, on and off. She came back when she could’ve stayed away. She stayed longer than planned because she loved it.
So yeah, Jenny’s gone. But something tells me we haven’t seen the last of her. This is Coronation Street after all. Characters always find their way back to Weatherfield eventually.
And if not? Sally Ann Matthews has more than earned her happy ending wherever that takes her.