Sherrie Hewson: 'I was jilted by Robert Lindsay'

Sherrie Hewson: 'I was jilted by Robert Lindsay'
Sherrie Hewson: 'I was jilted by Robert Lindsay' (Image credit: Doug Peters)

Former Coronation Street actress Sherrie Hewson reveals she was once due to marry Robert Lindsay but got jilted at the last minute. In her new autobiography, 3 Behind the Laughter, currently being serialised in The Mirror, Sherrie reveals she first met My Family star Robert while studing at Rada. Within weeks of their initial meeting at a party they fell in love and moved in together, but despite organising a wedding, their romance ended almost as quickly as it had begun. She wrote: "We'd been in our little love nest for a year when we decided to get married. I was 20 and Bob was 21 but we thought it was real love and we'd be together for ever. "We chose a date and despite her reservations Mum bought me a beautiful wedding dress and outfits for my bridesmaids and pageboy. I was ecstatic. Bob seemed just as happy but a few weeks before our wedding it all changed. "Bob had graduated from Rada and was beginning his career in a play in Exeter. I went down to visit but started to feel uneasy. A couple of girls he worked with were giving him looks I couldn't mistake and he was very distant towards me. "I went home to Mum's house in Nottingham. I didn't hear from him. As the days passed I realised he wasn't going to get in touch. Mum picked up the signals and then quietly cancelled everything. "Looking back, Bob was fiercely ambitious. He used to say: "I'll have my name in lights before you do." So perhaps he felt we'd be competing. "Of course I felt sad but deep down I knew we'd just got carried away. Bob became a household name in TV favourites like Citizen Smith and My Family and dozens of hit plays and musicals. "I headed back to Rada and didn't see or speak to Bob until 12 years later when I walked into the BBC for a radio play. We said a polite "hello" but I couldn't resist a little dig. "By the way," I called out over my shoulder, "I sold the dress!" Quite rightly, he lowered his head."

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.