Jenny Bradley

Jenny Bradley
Coronation Street character
Portrayed by	Sally Ann Matthews
Duration	1986–91, 1993, 2015–
First appearance	Episode 2584 6 January 1986
Introduced by	John G. Temple (1986) Carolyn Reynolds (1993) Stuart Blackburn (2015)
Classification	Present; regular
Family Father Alan Bradley Mother Pat Bradley Adoptive mother Rita Sullivan (foster) Sons Tom Midgeley

Jenny Bradley is a fictional character in the British television soap opera Coronation Street, played by Sally Ann Matthews. She made her first appearance on screen on 6 January 1986. Originally fostered by Rita Fairclough (Barbara Knox), she has been featured in storylines including her troubled relationship with her father and Rita's partner, Alan (Mark Eden), his death when he is killed in a tram accident after chasing Rita in Blackpool, and a brief underage romance with married man Robert Weston (Philip Bretherton). Their separation in 1991 leads to Jenny leaving on 1 March.

She returns for a short stint on 17 September 1993 when she visits Rita for money, but Rita's rejection of her results in Jenny's second departure on 8 October. Jenny returned for four months from 18 February 2015 after meeting Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell) through internet dating, and they begin a relationship. She is seen to develop an obsession with his son Jack (Jaxon and Maddox Beswick), which culminates in Jenny abducting him before being found in Hull, where she is arrested by police. Her last episode aired on 15 June 2015.^[1] On 11 August 2015, the official Coronation Street Twitter page announced that Matthews would be reprising her role as Jenny on 27 January 2016.^[2]

Storylines

1986–93

Jenny came to live with Rita Fairclough (Barbara Knox) as her foster-daughter following the death of her mother, Pat, in a road accident. Her father, Alan (Mark Eden), had left Pat and Jenny six years earlier, but he was traced and re-entered her life. Although she initially felt bitterness towards him, they soon bonded as he settled into No. 7 with Rita. Aged seventeen, Jenny goes on a school trip to France, where she meets a medical student, Patric Podevin (Franck Dubosc), and fell in love with him. Patric followed her back to Weatherfield and they got engaged, though Patric promised Alan that he would wait until he had finished his studies before they married. However, after he discovered that Jenny had been seen kissing another man at a party, Patric calls off the engagement and returned to France. On the eve of her 18th birthday in 1989, Jenny stops Alan from suffocating Rita, but continues to stand by her father throughout and after his trial regardless, although she was torn between her loyalty to him and her love for Rita. Due to his trial plea, he is allowed to walk free, but returns to start a campaign of harassment and intimidation against Rita, leading to her suffering a breakdown and losing her memory. Rita then moves to Blackpool, but her absence makes many residents believe that Alan has murdered her, and he becomes the object of widespread hatred and suspicion. Alan soon tracks her down, but meets his end after being hit and killed by a tram while chasing a distressed Rita across the tracks. Jenny blames Rita for his death, and she begins to study biology at Weatherfield Polytechnic a year later. During this time, Rita moves out of No. 7 to one of the new flats on the other side of the street, and rents the house to Jenny and her friend Flick Khan (Rita Wolf), also a student at the Polytechnic. Jenny soon dropped out of her course after becoming bored and starts an affair with a married dentist, Robert Weston (Philip Bretherton). When he leaves his wife, she moved in with him. The relationship did not last and in 1993 Robert went back to his wife. Jenny arrived on Rita's doorstep and tried to get money from her. Jenny begged for £30,000 to start a beauty salon, but Rita gave her just £1,000 and then threw her out of her home.

Jenny later married a man with the surname Midgley and they had a son named Tom, who drowned after being left unattended in a paddling pool. Tom was four years old when he died.^[3]

2015–

Jenny was revealed to be the woman Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell) had been talking to on a dating website. Kevin asked her to come to The Rovers Return, but she told him that she wanted to put the past behind her and wondered how Rita would react to seeing her again. Later that month Rita and Jenny met in The Rovers. Rita was distraught and Jenny ended up storming out of the pub because of Norris Cole's (Malcolm Hebden) taunts. Rita then appeared at Kevin's house and warned Jenny not to try her "little schoolgirl tricks". Jenny and Kevin then slept together; she is later seen to develop a fixation with his son Jack (Jaxon and Maddox Beswick). Kevin's daughter, Sophie Webster (Brooke Vincent) becomes suspicious of Jenny and tells her girlfriend, Maddie Heath (Amy James-Kelly), and Kevin but they do not believe her. Sophie remains wary, despite Jenny's attempts to ingratiate herself with the family. Maddie only realises that Sophie was right when she goes home and finds Jenny has packed a bag for Jack and is wearing a brunette wig. She guesses that Jenny is planning to run away with Jack and tries to stop her but an angry Jenny shows her unstable nature as she pushes her over and vows that Maddie will not be leaving. Jenny mentions that she didn't mean to hurt "Tom", and a shaken Maddie manages to escape, only to be injured and later killed by an explosion triggered by Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford) setting fire to her enemy Carla Connor's (Alison King) flat at Victoria Court.

After Sophie and Kevin have left for Maddie's funeral, Jenny seizes the opportunity to abduct Jack as she suggested that she look after him and Kevin agreed, leaving the Websters distraught. She takes him to a flat in Hull and throws a birthday party in Tom's memory, who transpires to be her dead son. He had died aged four in April 2013 after apparently being left on his own in a paddling pool – with Jenny believing that Jack can take his place. When she notices Jack is not participating, she shouts at him and sends him to his room; Jenny is seen on the flat's balcony later with Jack, releasing balloons into the sky. Rita arrives after a tearful Jenny phoned her but Jenny is enraged as she asked her to come alone, but Kevin and Sophie insisted on coming too. Sophie tells Jenny to bring Jack down, but Jenny is lost within her grief of losing Tom, and refuses. Kevin tries to reason with her by making it clear how much she is hurting him and Jenny returns Jack before seemingly prepares to jump, feeling she has nothing to live for. As the police arrive on the balcony, she breaks down in tears and says that she doesn't know who she is any more, before she is arrested and brought down. She apologises to Kevin but he rejects her apology and she is led away into the police car. The next day, Jenny is sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1983.

In January 2016, Jenny contacts Rita through Facebook. Rita goes and vists Jenny who tells her she has changed and got a new flat however when Jenny runs away, Rita sees the state of Jenny's flat and allows her to stay with her which annoys Sophie and Kevin.

Development

Reintroduction

On 4 October 2014 it was reported that Matthews was in talks about returning to the show.^[4] It was then announced on 20 October 2014 that Jenny would be making a return to the show in February 2015. Matthews said: "It was only in 2010—when the 50th celebrations started and I was asked to do this and that—that I thought, ‘I’m never going to get away from it, people still recognise me from it, I’m dead proud I was in it, I should embrace it."^[5][6] Speaking about Jenny and Rita being reunited, Matthews said: "Jenny doesn't see Rita initially. She meets Kevin first and so I didn't share scenes with Barbara (Knox) for a while. However, the scenes I have done with her have just been like picking up from where we left off. There is a lot of unfinished business with them—Rita isn't very happy."^[7]

Kevin Webster

Shortly after the announcement of her return it was announced that Jenny would begin a relationship with Kevin Webster. Bosses of the show revealed details of the storyline which would see Kevin makes a connection with a mystery woman online, he decides to meet up with her and is shocked to come face-to-face with Jenny. Jenny has also turned to the online dating site after a nasty divorce and was pleased to find Kevin's face among the profiles, as she reveals that she had a crush on him when they were younger. Kevin and Jenny then strike a relationship after a successful meeting. Speaking about Jenny's dynamic with Kevin, Matthews said: "She really likes him. She is single and is nervous about online dating. She sees him and he is somebody who is familiar. I think she probably always quite fancied him back in the day and she thinks 'why not?' She definitely is interested in Kevin but whether she is using him to get back in Weatherfield, time will tell. Whether it could be a fling that will develop, time will tell!". Speaking about the reaction to them as a couple, she went on to say: "People don't react very well to them at all. We just had some scripts in and there is a brilliant hour-long episode coming up with Sally. I love the way her character has developed into this incredible job and I love what she is doing because it's hilarious. That is going to get Jenny's back up. Sally will obviously be very defensive of Kevin and so will Sophie. People will have heard stories and that is the interesting thing. When Jenny comes back, she meets people that she has never met before and they are nice to her but then somebody will have a word in their ear and attitudes change."^[8]

Kidnapping

On 19 April 2015, it was reported by The Sun newspaper that an upcoming plot would see Jenny kidnap Kevin Webster's young son Jack. The kidnapping would be the culmination of a storyline which has seen Jenny become increasingly obsessed with Jack, as she spends time looking after him.^[9] Discussing Jenny's kidnapping of Jack plan, Matthews explained: "I've not played it as premeditated at all. I don't believe that Jenny has planned any of it. You've got to remember that when Jack's childminder was ill a few weeks ago, Jenny was very reluctant to look after Jack. You've got to remember that she really didn't want to get involved. As soon as she did, she tried to break it off with Kevin. Kevin assumed that she was breaking it off because she thought that Rita was uncomfortable with their relationship. It wasn't that - it was just that her past was starting to come into her head and she didn't know what to do with it. That's the beginning of where we're going to go with this storyline. Jenny did have a child who died in the past. We are now going to see the consequences of that with what Jenny is going to do. She's got a deluded idea that she has to run off with Jack in order to keep him safe, so she's going to be very conflicted. She's totally lost it." Matthews also admitted that she is nervous about how fans may react when they see Jenny's unstable behaviour escalate. She laughed: "Sometimes the public assume you are that person. It was bad enough when Jenny slapped Maria, God knows what it's going to be like now! I'll have to start putting Jenny's dark wig on, But there is a genuine reason why Jenny is behaving the way she is. I'm not playing it that she's a 'nutter'. Because of that, when it all finally comes out, I think there could be some understanding."^[10]

Producer Stuart Blackburn also offered his thoughts on the storyline, praising Matthews for exploring the difficult subject matter with sensitivity. He said: "I think why the story is working is the way Sally Ann is playing it. I've never considered that character a 'nutter'. She's a terribly damaged woman whose life stopped the day her child died. She's just been unable, however hard she tries, to move away from that."

Reception

Gary Gillatt of Inside Soap praised Jenny's return in 2015, saying "We're very taken with Jenny Bradley, who returned to the Street last week all cool and confident, and a bit sexy. Extend her short-term contract right now, Corrie!"^[11]

See also

• List of Coronation Street characters (1986)
• List of soap opera villains

References

External links

• Jenny Bradley at itv.com