Sally Carman’s 14-year Coronation Street wait

Sally Carman had 10 screen tests and "about a million interviews" for ‘Coronation Street’ over 14 years until she finally joined the soap.
The 37-year-old actress made her debut as Abi Franklin in 2017, and the former ‘Shameless’ star admits it was a hard slog trying to win a part on the cobbles, but she was delighted when she finally did.
She said: "I acted with Julie Hesmondhalgh [Hayley Cropper] on a radio play a while back, and I didn’t know I’d be in ‘Corrie’ years after that.
"I’d been trying since I was 23. I had 10 screen tests and about a million auditions, but I finally got here.
"Julie was delighted for me when I told her."
Despite harbouring a dream to act in Weatherfield, Sally wasn’t nervous when she first stepped foot on the set, because she felt "at home straight away".
She added to Inside Soap magazine: "It was the weirdest feeling as I walked into the ‘Coronation Street’ building and was on set – I felt at home straight away.
"I’ve never been so comfortable in a job.
"I wasn’t nervous, that’s the weird thing. As soon as I walked in, I just thought to myself, ‘I’m all right here.’ "
Sally has previously revealed she was turned down for three other parts, characters Kate Connor (Faye Brooks), Shona Ramsey (Julia Goulding) and former cobbles resident Andrea Beckett (Hayley Tamaddon) in her attempts to land a role on ‘Corrie’.
Speaking about the role of Abi, she said: "I got a phone call offering me six episodes. I didn’t have to audition and I, of course, said yes. But there has been legwork put in before then.
"I had something like 10 screen tests over the years for different parts.
"Shona was one of the roles I auditioned for, as was Faye Brookes’ character Kate Connor. And Hayley Tamaddon’s character; I was up for that as well. But Abi was worth waiting for."