Suranne Jones dumbfounded as fan asks if she ‘quit acting’ after Coronation Street
Coronation Street star Suranne Jones has gone onto major success in the mainstream since leaving the soap but was left dumbfounded when a member of the public asked if she had stopped acting
Suranne Jones recently met a fan who thought she had given up acting when she left Coronation Street more than 20 years ago(Image: A Night In with Sally Lindsay and Channel 5/Youtube)Suranne Jones was left dumbfounded when a member of the public asked if she had stopped acting. The TV star, 47, shot to fame when she took on the part of Karen Phillips on Coronation Street in 2000, and saw her alter-ego marry Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) twice.
During her dramatic time on the cobbles, she also made an enemy out of Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford) and the pair had a showdown at one of the wedding ceremonies over a paternity scandal.
The actress opted to leave the world’s longest-running TV soap after just four years, but went on to become a household name in her own right with starring roles in Scott & Bailey, Gentleman Jack and Doctor Foster, for which she won a BAFTA, to name but a few.
But Suranne, who in the last year alone has appeared in the political drama Hostage, the crime thriller Frauds, and the comedy Film Club, was recently stopped by a fan in the street who thought she had given up her acting career entirely after quitting Coronation Street more than 20 years ago.
Sally Lindsay has also gone onto major TV success since she quit Coronation Street but admitted that others assume the same thing about her (Image: A Night In with Sally Lindsay and Channel 5/Youtube)She said: “I went to get a coffee and this woman said to me, she looked dead upset for me and she said, ‘Aww, have you given up acting completely?’ And I went, ‘Me?!’
“She said I was too good to not be on the telly! But because I’m a Virgo perfectionist, I felt like I had to say to her, ‘Oh no, I had three shows out last year, I’ve done…’ and then I just thought, ‘What am I doing?'”
Suranne had joined close friend and former Coronation Street co-star Sally Lindsay, who starred as Shelley Unwin from 2001 until 2006. Despite her own success with The Madame Blanc Mysteries and a host of other drama series for Channel 5, Sally joked that fans had also assumed the same thing about her.
During a chat on A Night in with Sally Lindsay, the former Loose Women star then asked Suranne on why she did decide to leave. She said: “The agent I’ve got now, who I’ve had for 25 years, said she could do something with me if I left.
Karen was famously married to Steve McDonald twice(Image: PDUnknown)
In 2016, she won a BAFTA for her role in Doctor Foster (Image: PA)“And it was that really. If she hadn’t put that into my ear…I probably would’ve [left] because I was a working actress from age eight to 10 and because I missed theatre.”
Sally added: “Some people think we’re still in it because it was such a massive thing at the time. Whatever I do, I’ll always be Shelley off the telly. People go ‘Are you going back to Corrie?’ and you go ‘No!'”
Suranne then quipped: “Well, this woman down the road from me, she doesn’t think I’ve worked anyway, so it doesn’t matter!” Sally then told her former co-star that she was behind her own decision to quit the cobbles.
Last year, she starred as a fictional Prime Minister in the Netflix drama Hostage(Image: AP)She said: “So, when I started Coronation Street in 2001 and then it was me, you and Jennifer James [who played Geena Gregory], a dear friend of ours. We were the trio at Coronation Street but when you left, I was really bored so I left! Everyone thinks it was this big career move, but, I just missed my mates!”
Last year, Sally told The Mirror that she hadn’t watched Coronation Street since she left. When asked why, she explained: “Because I was in them, so you tend to not bother when you leave.”
Back in 2018, Sally revealed that she couldn’t face watching Coronation Street any more because so much had changed, and almost 10 years later, she had stuck to her decision. Back then she said: “I don’t actually watch Corrie. It’s difficult watching it as it’s changed so much – it’s like looking back at an old place of work.”
