Corrie star says ‘now I’m 55 the roles I’m offered are alcoholic cougars – but I love it’
Claire Sweeney (Image: ITV)
She is a “triple-threat” performer who sang, danced and acted to great acclaim on stage as Roxie Hart in Chicago, but Claire Sweeney reckons there’s no tougher job than Soapland. The 55-year-old, who came to fame on Brookside as Lindsey Corkhill in the early Nineties, has just completed a three-year stint on Coronation Street as Tyrone’s troubled mum Cassie Plummer. “Being in a soap is the hardest work ever,” she tells the Express, ahead of leaving the cobbles later this summer. “When you’re part of a main storyline you start at 7.30 in the morning and you finish at six or seven at night. Then you go home and learn your lines for the next day, so your brain is constantly firing on all cylinders.”
Hence why Claire is happy to be heading back to the theatre for a UK tour of the musical Annie. “Don’t get me wrong, I loved it, both with Brookside and Corrie,” she adds, “but with theatre, once you know the show then you know it. You turn up at 6pm, do your warmup, go on at 7.30pm, finish two or three hours later, then unless you’ve got a matinee you’re done until the next night.” There’s another reason that Claire, 55, was tempted back to the stage: the heavy-drinking, child-hating orphanage head Miss Hannigan has been on her wish-list of stage roles for as long as she can remember. “She’s iconic, isn’t she?” Claire muses during a break from rehearsals. “When I was a kid watching the film with all my mates, they wanted to be Annie but I wanted to be Miss Hannigan. She’s funny, she’s tragic and she gets a couple of great songs.”
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Claire had played firebrand Cassie Plummer on Coronation Street since 2023 seen here with on-screen love Steve McDonald (Image: ITV)
For her 40th birthday a good friend made her a collage of all the big moments in her life and career, which she promptly hung in the loo. The friend knew her dream role was Miss Hannigan, so he also superimposed her face on a picture of Paul O’Grady from when her fellow Scouser played the part in Annie in the late-Nineties.
“So I’ve been looking at me as Hannigan for 15 years every time I pop to the toilet, wishing for it to happen. I’d been saying to producer Michael Harrison, ‘Can I do Hannigan one day?’ on and off for years. Then the text came through, ‘Do you still want to do Hannigan?’ I was in Corrie but I’ve been wanting this part forever. When I was suddenly offered it, I couldn’t say no because I might never get another chance again.”
Is she anything like the character in real life? “Not at all. I love kids and I’m not an alcoholic. I like the occasional glass of wine but she’s constantly drunk and topping up her glass.”
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Claire had played firebrand Cassie Plummer on Coronation Street since 2023. Cassie arrived in Weatherfield as a drug addict, went into rehab, sought to be reconciled with her long-lost son Tyrone, stole from Ken Barlow, butted heads with Tracy and set her sights on Steve McDonald.
At the time of writing Cassie is still treading the Corrie cobbles, with Claire promising her exit later this summer will be “explosive” and adding of the creative team: “They were absolutely wonderful about my leaving and I couldn’t have wished for a better exit storyline for her.” As for if the door is open for her to return, all she’ll say is: “I think so but at the moment I’m focussing on Annie.”
When we chat Claire has been rehearsing the very demanding Easy Street number in a London studio on the hottest day of the year so far. Always glammed-up for red carpet events and social media posts, she’s make-up free and dressed down in a vest top and sweatpants.
Miss Hannigan’s dowdy costumes are also far from flattering. “But I haven’t got a vain bone in my body, as you can see from Coronation Street, and I love the character roles I’m being offered now. I’m at an age where I’m getting all of the alcoholic cougars and I love it.”
Claire Jayne Sweeney was born in the Walton area of Liverpool. As a youngster she entered disco dancing competitions and after she started winning her dad Ken encouraged her to join a local theatre school.
Claire shares her strong opinions as a panellist on Loose Women (Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
She earned pocket money by helping out in his butcher’s shop and was just 14 when she began singing in Liverpool nightclubs, recalling: “I’d spent the whole summer working in my dad’s shop, then I did a few gigs in the clubs and got the same money for singing as I did for doing a shift in his store. I just loved it. For me it wasn’t work, it was an absolute joy.”
Claire studied at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London and got her big break in 1991 when she joined Brookside as rebellious teen turned criminal mastermind Lindsey Corkhill. “It was my favourite show ever and getting to be part of the Corkhill family, I couldn’t believe it. Lindsay had her vulnerabilities, as we all do, but she was so feisty.”
Sweeney stayed on the show until 2003, taking time out to compete on the first series of Celebrity Big Brother (she was runner-up to winner Jack Dee) and to star as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago.
With the latter, did she feel like she had something to prove to people who only knew her from the telly? “I honestly never thought about that. Chicago was another show that I’d dreamed of being in, so I wanted to go in there, soak it all up, learn from it, enjoy it and just do my best. It turned out to be absolutely wonderful.”
Since leaving Brookside, Claire has done panto, made it to week five on Strictly Come Dancing, presented 60 Minute Makeover, been a panellist on Loose Women, starred in Guys and Dolls in the West End, toured in Tell Me on a Sunday and hosted her own Magic Radio show, to list just a few strings to her bow.
In her mid-50s she is very comfortable in her own skin, saying: “I’m at an age now where I’m less judgmental on myself. I look at pictures of me when I was young and I think, ‘Oh God, I thought I was weighty there and I looked fabulous’.
“I’m more easygoing with myself now. I don’t drink a lot and I love doing hot yoga, although I haven’t had time for it lately. I was in Manchester filming Corrie, then rehearsing for Annie. I’ve been a bit all over the place, but I like being busy – singing, dancing, acting, finding the layers in a character, it’s like the best job ever.”
Claire Sweeney as Lindsey Corkhill with co-star Paul Usher as Barry Grant in Brookslde (Image: Channel 4)
Joining Coronation Street was one of many box ticks. “I was a big fan and whenever anyone asked me in interviews, ‘If you could be in any other soap after Brookside, what would it be?’ my answer would always be, ‘Corrie’. As a family we’d sit down and watch it every Monday and Wednesday, so to then be in it was absolutely fantastic. I remember the first day when I went in to do a screen test, I saw the cobbles and I was like, ‘Can I see Jack and Vera’s house with the blue and yellow cladding?'”
The actress who felt getting to walk those Weatherfield cobbles would be “better than being in any Hollywood movie” was thrilled to be back in soap land. Saying goodbye after three years was just as emotional, as the cast presented her with a signed Newton & Ridley tray and tears were shed.
Now that she’s able to put a big tick next to ‘playing Miss Hannigan in Annie’ on her list of dream jobs, does she have any ambitions left to fulfil? Playing Mrs. Johnson in Blood Brothers is up there. “And there are so many great dramas now and parts for mature women, which is wonderful. I just want to carry on enjoying my job and loving what I do.
“There was never a dull moment with Corrie because the scripts were absolutely brilliant. I used to look forward to going into work every day and it’s the same now with Annie. It’s such a juicy part and the script is also brilliant. Sometimes scripts for musicals are not great, but this one is really good.”
For now the stage beckons, but Claire could never choose between theatre or TV. “They’re both equally brilliant but in different ways. I’m very lucky that I get to do both.” She’s also lucky that she’ll get to spend the summer portion of the tour with her 11-year-old son Jaxon, whose father is her former fiancé Daniel Rigby.
He’ll be going on the road with her and when asked what Jaxon brings to her life she beams: “Absolute joy. He fills my heart. He’s not only my child, he’s my best mate. He’s got a great sense of humour, he’s sensitive, he’s kind, he’s great company and he fits right into my life with all my friends. We can be at a party and I’ll be thinking, ‘Where’s Jaxon?’ and there he is sat in the corner talking to someone, deep in conversation.”
With the biggest of grins, Claire gushes: “He’s a great kid and I’m so proud of him. How lucky am I? I’ve got a great life, I’m healthy, I love my job and I have a beautiful son. I feel so blessed.”
