Sally Dynevor never ice-skated before. "It was just too scary and I was worried about hurting myself,” she explains. “My younger daughter Hattie used to go and I’d get a coffee and watch her from the side, but I’d never go on the ice. I was still too scared.”
The mum-of-three, who plays Sally Webster in Corrie, has really taken a leap of faith by signing up for ITV’s Dancing on Ice.She’ll not only have to skate but dance while she’s doing it – and perform live, too.
“I was first asked about Dancing on Ice three years ago, but it’s taken me this long to pluck up the courage to actually do it,” she says. “The lockdowns were a factor in me deciding to take up the offer. They made me think that I should take every opportunity that comes my way as I don’t know how many more there will be.
“I thought, ‘I’ve got the chance to do this incredible thing, conquer my fears and learn a new skill while really getting out of my comfort zone’. I knew that if I didn’t take the opportunity now, I never would.”
But it must be a massive challenge for her?
“It is,” she replies. “It’s extremely daunting for me but I’ve really enjoyed the training. My partner is Matt Evers who’s been on Dancing on Ice from the very start of the show, so I really do feel like I’m in safe hands.
“I also realise that a lot of it is about confidence and mind over matter – I’m working as hard as I can to get there. There is so much to learn in addition to staying upright on the ice. Some days Matt will say he can see a kind of white mist coming over me as he teaches me but that’s because there’s so much information to take in – ‘Inside edge, outside edge, left foot, right foot’ – and I have to compute it all at once.
“When he lifts me up and holds me in the air while skating, I feel like I’m flying. It’s amazing. But I don’t want to be put down again!”
Sally says it’s far more of a personal journey for her than seeing how far she can go in the competition.
“I’m not saying I’m going to be good. I’m certainly not in it to win it. If I get voted out the first week, that’s OK. I’ll have had a go! Quite a few of my Corrie colleagues have taken part over the years – Samia Longchambon (Maria) who went on to marry her ice-dancing partner Sylvain, Jane Danson (Leanne) and Antony Cotton (Sean), to name but three. We have a Dancing on Ice WhatsApp group and they’re all so lovely and supportive. That’s a real help.”
Away from the ice, Sally Dynevor’s also been working hard on Corrie plus she’s a celebrity supporter of ActionAid – an international charity that works with women and girls living in poverty – and has been publicising its latest appeal, Let Girls Learn. “Every girl deserves to go to school and get the education that is her right,” says Sally. “But around the world, 129 million are out of school. The pandemic has made a serious situation worse. Lockdowns have kept them at home, out of sight and out of the classroom – some for good.
“ActionAid runs a network of projects that support girls into schools, keeping them from dropping out, and helping them to catch up on learning they’ve missed. It provides simple but effective solutions to ensure they can stay in school, such as supplying them with menstrual products so they don’t miss class – or drop out of school altogether – when they have their period. And for those who’ve already missed out on their education, ActionAid runs catch-up centres where they can learn literacy and other life skills.
“In Kenya alone, 5,000 girls aged 10-19 are attending one of 150 catch-up centres, opening the door to education and skills that empowers them and lets them take control of their futures.”
Sally (58) has supported Action Aid for many years and in 2007, took her actress daughter Phoebe, then 12, to India with her to see some of the projects the charity was undertaking as well as visiting the young girl the Dynevor family were sponsoring.
Speaking of Phoebe, Sally and her scriptwriter husband Tim must be incredibly proud of their elder daughter’s success in Netflix’s popular period drama, Bridgerton? “I am – we are – but I’m incredibly proud of all my three children,” she replies. “I don’t know if it’s because Corrie’s Sally has two girls, but people seem to think it’s the same for me. I also have a son, Sam, who’s between Phoebe and Hattie.
Sam prefers to stay out of the limelight – he doesn’t even like having his picture taken – but I’m immensely proud of him. He’s just moved to London and is working in financial public relations. Hattie, meanwhile, is studying hard for her A-levels and she’s an angel.” Just like Sally then!
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