Ordinary Lies star Sally Lindsay: “Being on a soap is the best training you’ll ever have”

Former Coronation Street actress Sally Lindsay believes working on a soap can only help actors’ careers.

Sally Lindsay reckons her fellow ex-Corrie star Michelle Keegan can use her Weatherfield exit as a springboard for success.

The pair are two of the big names in the BBC’s much hyped new drama series Ordinary Lies series that starts on Tuesday.

It’s Michelle’s first role since character Tina was killed off last year.

And, as we catch up for a chat, Sally, who played Shelley Unwin for five years, reckons the soap background will be anything but a barrier for Michelle.

“It’s the best training you’ll ever have,” explains Sally, 41.

“There are people like Suranne Jones and Kate Kelly who are doing brilliant stuff and it doesn’t matter if you’ve been in a soap for a bit.

“People still ask me if I’m filming Corrie and I left ages ago so you can’t really get away from it.

“But it’s a brilliant profile if you use it well. And gone are the days when you left a soap and didn’t work.”

There’s even more of a soap connection in Ordinary Lies with EastEnders’ Jo Joyner another of the top-notch ensemble cast.

Max Beesley, Mackenzie Crook and Jason Manford also star in the six-part drama set against the backdrop of a car showroom.

Each week focuses on one member of staff and the little lie in their life that turns out to have a massive impact.

Sally is PA Kathy who loves gossip about colleagues, but would be horrified if they knew the real truth about her.

The individual revelations are being kept under a Broadchurch-style veil of secrecy.

“I can’t even talk about it very annoyingly,” laughs Sally.

“When I got the script for Kathy’s personal episode, it blew me away. I could not have seen it coming.”

While the revelation stunned her, the part of the PA with ideas a little above her station was totally familiar to Sally.

“I did lots of temping and working in offices from when I was 18 to 25,” she reveals.

“So I have a lot of experience of that world and I based my character on somebody who used to be my office manager.

“Kathy thinks she runs the place, which she doesn’t, and that gets on some people’s nerves. That’s exactly like the woman I used to work for likeable but a bit annoying.”

Sally was a regular Loose Women panellist and has recently been starring in both Sky’s Mount Pleasant and the BBC’s sitcom Still Open All Hours.

Sally has also featured in detective drama Scott & Bailey, which she devised in conjunction with big pal Suranne.

Being in such demand means a bit of childcare juggling.

Sally and musician husband Steve White they wed in front of celebrity pals Suranne, Carol Vorderman and Gok Wan 15 months ago have four-year-old twins Victor and Louie.

“We share the childcare,” says Sally, who’s an open, friendly delight to interview.

“I’m off for a little bit now and Steve’s going back into the studio, so we balance it.

“We’ve got help too, including both sets of grandparents, but we do a diary check every week.

“A lot of my working mum friends see their kids just at weekends or for a couple of hours a night.

“But because of my job I get loads of times with them and even when I’m working away it’s only three days a week.”

Sally says she still can’t believe that her “babies” will be starting school in September.

And she and Steve had a little practice of being without them a few days ago.

“We always have a couple of days away just with each other every year.

“We ended up watching our stepson’s boxset of Game of Thrones. After episode six, I couldn’t take any more of it and called a halt saying I needed to be in the real world for a bit!”

Ordinary Lies, BBC1, Tuesday 9pm.