Richard Haw­ley on Corrie: "I've wanted this job for 40 years"

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog July 2016, reposted to this blog with permission.)

There was a good interview with Corona­tion Street’s Richard Haw­ley in The Daily Mail's Weekend magazine which I saw at the weekend.

Richard, who plays Johnny Connor in Corrie, says he's been after a role in the show for 40 years!

He says: ‘I’ve been try­ing to get a job on the Street for my whole ca­reer; I’ve been up for jobs at least six times in the past 20 years. When I got the part I went into an emo­tional free-fall. It was the chance of a life­time, so I was in­cred­i­bly ex­cited and full of adren­a­line.

‘Even now I pinch my­self; I look around and get a sense of his­tory, of stand­ing on the shoul­ders of gi­ants. I’m not sure how I got here, but I feel I’ve got the best job in the coun­try.’

Speaking about Jenny and Johnny, Richard says: ‘I en­joy work­ing with Sally Ann Matthews, who plays Jenny, and I think we’ve got chemistry. So I hope they’ll have fun for years and maybe get mar­ried one day.’

Richard’s been mar­ried for more than 30 years and has grown-up twin daugh­ters. The fam­ily home’s in Brighton and Richard heads there when he can, but in the week he shares a Manch­ester flat with Con­nor McIntyre, who plays evil Pat Phe­lan.

It’s a price Richard’s pre­pared to pay for his dream role. ‘I al­ways wanted a job in Corrie that’d be­come a big char­ac­ter like Mike Bald­win. They’re big shoes to fill but it’s a priv­i­lege to be given a shot. If it was up to me, I’d spend a fair old time here.’



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