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NATIONAL TREASURE

Who is Sarah Lancashire and when was she in Coronation Street?

SARAH Lancashire found fame on the ITV soap Coronation Street.

She is now one of the UK’s most sought-after actresses after appearing in the BBC crime drama Happy Valley. 

 Sarah Lancashire is a British actress - seen here in Talking Heads
Sarah Lancashire is a British actress - seen here in Talking HeadsCredit: BBC

How old is Sarah Lancashire?

Sarah is 58 years old and was born in Lancashire on October 10, 1964.

The actress has three brothers – one her twin, one older and one younger.

Her father Geoffrey was a television scriptwriter for Coronation Street and The Cuckoo Waltz and her mother Hilda was his personal assistant.

Sarah was educated at Oldham Hulme Grammar School and started battling depression at the age of 17.

Is Sarah Lancashire married?

When she was 22, she married music lecturer Gary Hargreaves, her first serious boyfriend, who was 11 years her senior and who she had been dating for four years.

They had a son, Thomas, in 1987 before another son, Matthew, followed in 1989.

But unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be as she and Gary separated in 1995 before eventually divorcing.

In 2001, Sarah married TV producer and executive Peter Salmon with whom she has a son, Joseph, born in 2003.

How did Sarah Lancashire get into acting?

Sarah was offered a place at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and graduated in 1986.

She was given her first job with the Manchester Library Theatre Company, which got her an Equity card.

And as she had big gaps between work, Sarah worked as a drama teacher at Salford University to support herself.

Sarah got her big break when she landed the role of Linda in the West End production of Blood Brothers at the Albery Theatre in 1990.

How did Sarah Lancashire become a household name?

In 1991, two weeks after her run in Blood Brothers came to an end, she landed the part of Raquel Wolstenhulme, a colleague of Norman ‘Curly’ Watts, played by Kevin Kennedy, in Coronation Street.

She proved to be an instant hit with fans of the soap, even more so when Raquel and Curly married, and starred in the spin-off Coronation Street- The Cruise, which focused on their honeymoon.

Sarah quit the soap in 1996 and her final scenes attracted 20 million viewers.

What is Sarah Lancashire working on now?

Sarah is said to have set up her own TV production company with her husband Peter Salmon.

The couple reportedly filed paperwork in January to create Via Pictures to develop their own shows.

A TV insider said: “Happy Valley has gripped the nation over the past few weeks and Sarah is one of the most talented and popular actresses in the country.

“She is going to be in huge demand, but it’s important to remember she has also had a lot of creative say behind the scenes on the plot and the way Happy Valley was filmed.

“Sarah’s husband, Peter, is one of the most respected and well-liked TV executives in the industry.

“By setting up a company together they are going to not only be in big demand, but also hugely successful.”

What else has Sarah Lancashire starred in?

After Corrie, Sarah went on to star as district nurse Ruth Goddard in the ITV drama Where the Heart Is before making a guest appearance on the dark comedy series Murder Most Horrid.

After she quit Where the Heart Is in 1999, she returned to Corrie for a one-off episode which starred just her and Kennedy, in which Raquel asks Curly for a divorce.

Sarah then landed the role of factory employee Yvonne in the BBC One drama series Clocking Off and then starred in the legal sitcom Chambers after playing an actress in the TV film Seeing Red.

In the summer of 2000, ITV sought to secure her with a golden handcuffs deal which was worth £ 1.3 million and made her the highest-paid actress on British television.

Her first role under the new contract was in the six-part drama The Glass where she starred opposite John Thaw before appearing in the two-part psychological drama The Cry.

In recent years she has narrated the BBC One series Lark Rise To Candleford, played the mother of a murder victim in the BBC drama Five Daughters and the Head of Ladies-wear Miss Audrey in The Paradise.

She was also one of the lead cast members in the BBC drama Last Tango in Halifax and won critical acclaim for her role as police sergeant Catherine Cawood in Happy Valley, which returned to screens in 2022, after a six-year hiatus.

In June 2020 Sarah returned to TV in Alan Bennett's Talking Heads and also starred in the HBO Max series, Julia.

In January 2023, Sarah took the lead role in the BBC crime drama series Happy Valley as Catherine which is now available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

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