“I was so in awe. I just froze.”
Coronation Street legend Sally Lindsay has recalled a faux-pas she suffered on her first day with an iconic co-star. The actor famously played Shelley Unwin on the soap between 2001 and 2006, and has since had a wider career in shows such as Scott & Bailey and The Madame Blanc Mysteries.
However, Sally admitted she was full of “nerves” when she started on Corrie, revealing an awkward moment she had in front of Barbara Knox.
“On my first day, one of my first scenes was with Barbara Knox, who plays Rita,” she shared on the Once Upon a Time podcast.
“I went over to give her a drink – my character had to go over and give her a drink and say a line. [She’d say] ‘Oh, who are you then?’ ‘I’m Shelley…’ Or whatever. And she went, ‘Oh, who are you then?’
“I went to say it and I just froze. I couldn’t breathe. The nerves. ‘Cause obviously when you’re northern, Coronation Street is such a part of the fabric of our… if anybody rings you after half seven [and interrupts Corrie], somebody’s dead. They’d have to be dead. Not even on the verge!
“I couldn’t speak, because I was so in awe. I just froze. I said, ‘I’m so sorry, I’m terribly embarrassed, I’m just a bit overwhelmed by everything and you’.”
Sally said that Barbara was “so lovely” in response, recalling her telling her “don’t worry darling, I did exactly the same to Doris Speed”.
“And after that, we were mates,” the star added. “We used to take cuttings in from our gardens… I got on with them all, loved them all. I miss them all. I had a wonderful experience there, best job ever.”
Sally most-recently appeared in Channel 5 series Number One Fan, which follows a daytime TV host (played by Jill Halfpenny) who is stalked by an obsessive fan (Lindsay).
