Coronation Street favourite Jennie Mcalpine is returning to the cobbles – and, if her Instagram account is anything to go by –she's a little nervous about it. On Friday night, she teased her return by posting a snap of a cup of tea on top of a pile of scripts, the top one of which was clearly labelled Coronation Street Shooting Script.
The actress, who plays Fiz Brown on the soap, has been on maternity leave since the end of last year and is now gearing up for her return. She captioned the script photo: "Friday night reading [monkey covering its eyes emoji] Hoping it’s just like riding a bike #itsbeenawhile"
© Photo: WENNJennie initially signed on to play Fiz for five episodes in 2001
Jennie, 35, joined the show back in 2001 and has portrayed one of its most memorable and much-loved characters ever since. She's also been a guest panellist on Loose Women and starred in I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, taking fourth place in the jungle-based reality show in 2017.
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She and her husband, restaurant manager Chris Farr, welcomed their second child in October 2018 – a daughter who was named Hilda after legendary Coronation Street character Hilda Ogden, the sweet but sharp-tongued pub cleaner who was portrayed by Jean Alexander from 1964 to 1987.
Jennie hasn't been seen on screen since late 2018
Jennie took to Twitter to share that news, writing: "Our newest addition arrived yesterday. Mummy and Daddy very happy. Big brother very proud of his little sister Hilda. We're all in love."
Their son, four-year-old Albert, was born in November 2014, and also shares a name with an iconic Corrie character. Albert Tatlock was a grumpy older man who was a stalwart of the show from 1960-84, played by Jack Howarth. His niece Valerie married another long-running fave, Ken Barlow, who moved in with Albert and looked after him until he died.
READ: Coronation Street introduces controlling relationship in new storyline
Although Jennie's children's names share a trend, after her son was born, she claimed she didn't purposefully name him in tribute, just that, as she told Lorraine Kelly, "All the gorgeous names have all been in Coronation Street." Won't be long until she's back there, too.
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