Destined to appear in just four episodes playing Fiz Brown, it’s now 25 years since fan favourite Jennie McAlpine first set foot on Coronation Street’s famous cobbles
Jennie McAlpine first set foot on the Corrie cobbles 25 years ago, and was only supposed to appear in four episodes as Fiz Brown. She was just 17 when she landed the cameo role back in 2001 as Roy and Hayley Cropper’s latest foster child, she then went back to her day job on the checkout of her local Boots.
But David Neilson, who plays Roy Cropper, knew they had found a star and predicted great things for Jennie. She recalls her debut, telling The Mirror: “Originally, it was only four episodes. On my last day David asked when I’d be coming back. I told him that was it and he said ‘oh no, you’ll be back.’ I left and went back to working at Boots. I was only 17 and I don’t think Boots believed me when I said that the days off that I’d requested were so that I could go and film Coronation Street. I spent the next four months working there on the checkout. I really enjoyed it, but David was right and Coronation Street asked me to come back.”
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Feisty Fiz – a machinist at the knickers factory Underworld, has blossomed into a 42 year-old mum and stepmum, married to mechanic Tyrone Dobbs, played by Alan Halsall. Jennie says of Corrie: “I don’t want to do anything else. Coronation Street is like a second home to me. I spend more time with some of the cast than I do my own family. I’ve been working with Alan for so long he gets me through most things.”
She also loves working with Sam Aston, who plays her brother Chesney, and the other factory girls. She says: “I love having that little group of people around me. Twenty five years seems like a long time to be in one role, but I feel lucky to be here. I’m a Manchester girl and I am so grateful that Coronation Street is round the corner from my home. I’ve built my life here and they’ve let me go off and have my three babies and then come back.”
Off-screen Jennie lives in Manchester with her husband, chef Chris Farr and their three children, Albert, 11, Hilda, seven, and Doris. On screen, she is mum to Hope, her daughter by serial killer John Stape and step mum to Ruby, Tyrone’s daughter with domestic abuser Kirsty. She was also briefly a mother figure to Tyrone’s son Dorin, from a brief affair with his mum Alina Pop, who has now returned with him to Romania.
With three weddings, including the serial killer, and a prison sentence among her most dramatic street moments, another action-packed storyline is promised for Fiz in the months ahead.
Jennie reveals: “Fiz, Tyrone, his mum Cassie and the girls are all involved, but what happens is not Hope’s fault on this occasion. There’s someone on the horizon who’s going to put the cat amongst the pigeons for all the family.” Here Jennie takes us through some of her most memorable Corrie moments:
Topless rooftop protest – 2002: “Fiz was protesting on the factory roof wearing a basque, because Mike Baldwin wouldn’t pay for her designs and she whipped it off. It was mortifying, but they looked after me with a hot water bottle and a dressing gown, because it was February and absolutely freezing!”
Throwing whisky in Mike Baldwin’s face – 2003: “I seemed to hit a lot of people in my early days, including Tracy Barlow and Sally, though my first violent act was pouring a whisky in Mike Baldwin’s face. I was really scared doing it to a Coronation Street icon, but everyone used to pour drinks over people back then!”
Fiz and Chesney – 2003/2004: “I sat in on Sam Aston’s audition for Chesney when he was nine. There were five little boys there. I always joke with Sam and say, ‘I chose the one that came in before you!’ Sam stood out. His face was so cute it had to be him.”
Working with Schmeichel – 2004-2011: “Sometimes the writers would write for that dog like it was an actor, it was ridiculous! He’s a 25 stone Great Dane, he was quite tricky to move and he would do exactly what he wanted, when he wanted. Sam Aston, bless him, would get dragged along by him!”
Filming in South Africa – 2008: “Me, Chesney and Cilla went out there to film the Coronation Street spin-off Out of Africa, but I spent my whole time there under an umbrella or wearing Factor 50. It was a really bad idea to send a ginger family with pale skin into the sun!”
Chained to the prison gates – 2009: “To show her love for John Stape, Fiz handcuffed herself to the prison railings and a crowd gathered. I was there with a props guy and after a while we said ‘what’s going on, we’ve not heard anything for a bit.’ They’d all gone for a b****y tea break and left us there and we didn’t have the key!”
Giving birth in the live episode – 2010: “We had a prosthetic baby, but when it arrived it had a willy. I was giving birth to Hope, so in rehearsals the nurse had to put her hand over the willy as she held the baby up. Thankfully the right one arrived in time for the live episode!”
Fiz in tears – any year: “Fiz gets a lot of emotional stuff, but if I have to cry in a scene my face is red and blotchy for two hours afterwards. I can’t disguise it!”
Kissing Tyrone – 2021: “It’s more of a peck these days, but back in the day there were snogging scenes. “
Marrying Tyrone – 2022: “I’ve actually had three screen weddings. John Stape in prison, then Phill Whittaker, which was annulled and then she married Tyrone at Christmas. The last two were really big weddings. In real life I am someone who literally eloped and went to get married with nobody watching.”
Wearing a blonde wig – 2023: “This was us trying to spice things up after Tyrone’s affair. Fiz wore a blonde wig and pretended to be a businesswoman called Penelope. But Evelyn and Roy turned up and Evelyn thought Tyrone was having an affair. As soon as Maureen Lipman is involved it’s hard not to laugh. I had my back to them, but I still had to stop myself laughing.”
*For more information: www.itv.com/coronationstreet and on Twitter: @itvcorrie
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