Bring Back Sassy Sally

(This post was originally posted by Graeme N on the Coronation Street Blog in November 2013.)

Oh, Sally Webster. What has become of you?

Where's the strong, sassy Sally? These days she resembles a poor imitation of Mavis Riley caught between Derek and Victor Pendlebury. Only poor Sally doesn't even have a wise cracking Rita interrupting her with a new delivery of Walnut Whips from th'wholesalers.

I watched recently as Sally was humiliated yet again by that good for nothing Tim. Tim really did have some nerve, giving Sal the cold shoulder for popping to the shops. It was not so long ago that the newly sainted Tim neglected the ever-unpleasant Faye for days while he was off chasing something nubile in Newcastle.

Just when she thought she'd shifted Rosie and Kevin out of number 4, her conservatory now boasts Faye and Grace sprawled out on her cane furniture, with lapsed Christian martyr Sophie moaning away in the background.

I always thought Coronation Street was about strong women. Sally was always a feisty piece. Back in the day, Hilda Ogden warned Kevin off young Sally Seddon as she came from a family wrong'uns. We watched Sally mature into motherhood, always striving for better. She pushed husband and offspring to achieve far more than they were capable of as she battled to become the Street's 21st Century Annie Walker. Even though Sally is certainly a snob with dubious morals when it comes to slimy car salesmen, the writers have been very careful to balance her character out. She's often been there as a sympathetic ear for Gail, Sophie and most recently, Roy.

I don't know, perhaps Sally's greatest strengths are her weaknesses. She's always fallen for the wrong man, but then so has Gail, Rita, Audrey, Deirdre and the rest. I just hoped for more for Sally than being a human doormat for Tim, Faye and Anna to dust off their clogs. Following on from Sally's breast cancer storyline, her role in the tram crash and the revelations over Kevin's affair with Molly, the bride of Chucky, I wanted Sally to emerge stronger and more independent. Not this eager to please drudge we see before us.

Sally needs a business, not a man. She needs to thrive with a new enterprise, nose in the air. If the writers pair her with a bad boy, she'll get hurt. If they give her a loser, she's a wasted character and if they send a nice man her way, she'll just get bored. Nope, let's leave Sally's love life alone for a while and concentrate on Sally the social climber. 

So should Sally ditch Tim and the sisters grim? What would you like to see the wonderful Sally do next?


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