CORONATION Street has aired a shock – and unannounced – exit in today’s episode for an iconic character.
The ITV soap said a poignant farewell to one of its most beloved characters nearly 40 years since she first walked onto the cobbles.
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Jenny Connor – who is played by actress Sally Ann Matthews – exited the soap after being handed an envelope of cash by Rita.
Her final scenes see the character caught out in a lie after she lets love-interest George think that Rita is dying.
However, undertaker George later catches up with Rita and is horrified to learn the truth that she is NOT terminal.
Jenny then opens up to Rita saying she’s a “sad lonely fool”, but that George makes her feel “seen”.
Rita then tells her foster daughter that she should apologise to George for the way she’s behaved.
A humiliated Jenny heads to the funeral parlour to apologise.
She tells him: “I wanted to apologise for misleading you about Rita.”
George asks: “Was it a joke, some type of test?”
He then slams her for using Rita to get him to spend more time with her rather than love-rival Christina.
Jenny then spots an order of service for a woman a year older than her who has just died – which prompts her to think about her own life.
She then reminisces about her time in the Rovers – ever since she first worked there in the 80s under Bet Lynch.
CORONATION Street star Sally Ann Matthews has been axed from the soap 39 years after joining the soap.
She tells George: “I watched her swanning around, queen bee, in this world that was all hers and I never imagined one day that would be me.
“Or that one day I felt that I would really belong there.”
The former Rovers Return landlady shares that she’s also kept her licensee banner from over the pub’s door.
George tells her that she can rebuild herself again – and gives her the idea to go away and run a bar in Tenerife.
Jenny insists she can’t leave Rita after all she’s done for her and she intends to stay and care for her.
George then heads to see Rita and tells her just how unhappy Jenny is – and Rita agrees.
When Jenny returns, Rita hands her an envelope full of cash and tells her: “It’s for a flight – one way.
“It’s time you start liking yourself again and I don’t think that’s something you’re getting round here.
“Who wants to spend life being grateful? And if you do stick around here long enough it’ll be my turn.
“I’ve got friends around here, good friends. I will be alright.”
At the Rovers, Jenny makes her decision – and packs her bags to leave.
Rita tells her that she can find another pub again for her licensee plate – but Jenny replies that it’s going in the bin.
Why axing Sally Ann Matthews is a huge blunder by Corrie bosse
The Sun’s Soaps Editor Carl Greenwood explains why axing Jenny Connor is a huge, huge mistake
I’m going to say it – axing Sally Ann Matthews was a mistake.
Coronation Street has come under some criticism for changing and evolving over the years but its strength has always been how it blends different decades together.
Obviously there’s the eternal Ken Barlow to tie everything together and the likes of Rita and Audrey to hark back to yesteryear but more than that there are characters from its past that belong on the cobbles.
Jenny Bradley was one of them.
Sally Ann Matthews turned a one-off return where she kidnapped a toddler into almost decade-long run of brilliance with what she did for her character.
She turned the once footnoted daughter of legendary Corrie villain Alan Bradley into an icon in her own right – the Rovers Return’s latest landlady.
And then for some reason, bosses decided she was surplus to requirements and she lost the pub and has been aimless for a while.
Today’s episode’s shock – and unannounced – exit was actually perfect for the character and the actress – but a disaster for the show.
Her leaving leaves a major hole in the cobbles – and not the sinkhole style one that she was plunged into a few years ago.
Jenny bridged the gap between the nostalgic Corrie and the very current procedural Corrie – and she did it brilliantly.
Now with her gone, it’s another link to its past, its heyday, gone.
Debbie Webster actress Sue Devaney will also follow suit in the next year or two – and like Sally Ann – she embodies classic Corrie.
Between them they are hugely popular with both old and young viewers – and getting rid of them is a huge mistake.
It’s one that won’t be felt until they’re gone and while Jenny may have strutted off the cobbles with a smile, there won’t be much smiling once bosses realises what a mistake they’ve made.
She tells Rita: “This was Jenny Connor’s gaffe, the next place will be Jenny Bradley’s.
“Because one thing I know about her – she can show up some place and make things happen.
“If I can go from being a slip of a barmaid at Bet Lynch’s beck and call to landlady, clanging that bell every night then there ain’t nothing I can’t do.”
“It’s not goodbye,” insists Jenny but Rita says: “It is for today”, promising to visit her pal in Tenerife.
“If you ever need me,” says Jenny but it is too much for Rita who breaks down in tears.
She tells her foster daughter: “Don’t say that Jenny, don’t say that. I’ll be alright.”
Rita heads inside the pub, eventually followed by Jenny and the pair share one last look before Jenny turns on her heels and walks out of the doors.
She stops briefly to say goodbye to the Rovers, dumps her old licensee plate and walks away from the cobbles for good.
The Sun can confirm that this is actress Sally Ann Matthews exit after she was axed from the soap earlier this year.
