Coronation Street star addresses soap cutbacks in online chat

Coronation Street actor Sally Ann Matthews has addressed the cutbacks at the ITV soap.

The star, best known for playing Rovers landlady Jenny Connor, took part in an Instagram Live last night (December 22) where she answered questions from fans.

One fan asked if she enjoyed location shooting — filming in a real-world location rather than in the typical studio space — and she responded by saying that the soap isn't doing location shoots anymore due to a reduction in budget.

ITV

"We don't do on-location," she said. "Thankfully because I frickin' hate being on location. Location is shit – I hate it.

"So I'm glad ITV have got no money - am I allowed to say that? Well, I've said it."

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Regular viewers will know that the show does still film on location for certain storylines, but has extended the set in recent years to provide new on-site locations like Victoria Street and the Weatherfield Precinct which are often used instead.

In the same Instagram Live, Matthews stated that on-screen adoptive mother Barbara Knox (who plays Rita Tanner) isn't going anywhere, and will hopefully get more to do on screen soon.

"She bemoans the fact that she's not working more and she hasn't got more lines to learn," Matthews said of her co-star. "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 bloody brilliant."

ITV

In June, Matthews said she was "particularly quiet at work" with "like a million years off", which is why she was having quite a lot of holidays. Her comment about how she "might get a job and someone might employ me" especially had fans worried that she had left the soap.

She didn't further comment on this latest Instagram Live, but she did say that Knox "wants to do a couple of scenes with me" in the present tense.

Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.