star Sally Ann Matthews – best known for playing Jenny Bradley in the soap – had to blink away tears as she offered an update on one of her co-stars.
Sally was chatting with fans on Live this week when one fan wondered how much longer Barbara Knox might have left on the cobbles. She’s played Rita Tanner since 1964 – and has shown no signs of slowing down.
With only Ken Barlow star William Roache outlasting her in Soapland, having starred in since 1960, Barbara is an acting stalwart.
But one fan was keen to ask Sally: “Have you ever imagined Rita leaving?” prompting her to take a very deep breath as tears welled up in her eyes.
Sally Ann admitted: “That’s a really difficult one, because Barbara’s 91. Barbara ain’t going anywhere any time soon. And in fact, she bemoans the fact that she’s not working more and she hasn’t got more lines to learn. I do think going forward that they are going to give her scenes where she’s got more dialogue, because she thrives off that. She’s bl**dy brilliant.”
Sally Ann Matthews offered an update on Barbara Knox (Image: Getty)
She added: “But she’s 91. I would rather… Barbara wants to do a couple of scenes with me. She doesn’t want to be in the Rovers with loads of people, she wants to be with me or she wants to be with Peter Gunn (Brian Packham) or with Patti [Clare, who plays Mary Taylor] or with Sally [Dynevor, who plays Sally Metcalfe] and she just wants to have a three-page scene where she’s got something to get her teeth into, and she’s more than bl**dy capable of doing that, of learning the lines and going on.
“She’d rather do that than sit in the Rovers where she’s got people who she doesn’t know and she’s talking about something where she doesn’t know what she’s talking about particularly.
Sally Ann got emotional during an Instagram video (Image: Instagram / Sally Ann Matthews)
“Yeah, she’s 91 and she’s brilliant. Sharp as a tack. And still tells me off. So I can’t ask for more than that really, can I?”
Emotional fans turned out in the comments section to demand Rita never be written out, with one writing: “Stop this, what a literal legend Barbara Knox is!” Someone else said: “This made me so emotional!! Love her so much.”
“Got me emotional seeing her talk about Barbara Knox,” somebody else agreed.