Jennie McAlpine is positively glowing. Just like her Corrie character Fiz Brown, she’s taken motherhood in her stride. She coos as she talks about three-month-old baby Albert and is showing no signs of sleepless nights.
In fact she’s already been back to Coronation Street, joking that it was little Albert’s first audition. And it didn’t go well.
In her first interview since becoming a mum, Jennie, 30, reveals how her son left his mark by being sick over the show’s producer.
“I took Albert in and everyone was fussing over him and he had lovely cuddles,” she says. “Then he went to our producer Stuart Blackburn, so I said, ‘Come on Albert, this is your first audition’.
“But as soon as Stuart held him he did every bodily function that a baby could do... trumps, sick, and then cried all over Stuart. The audition did not go well!”
Even if he has blown his big chance at Corrie stardom, Albert is a big hit at Annie’s, the Manchester restaurant Jennie owns with her partner Chris Farr.
“All our customers have bought him so many presents – teddies, blankets and outfits,” she says. “They are like part of our extended family.
“Albert has kind of just fitted into our lives perfectly. We live in the city and I love that he’s a city baby.
"It is just a 10-minute walk for me to bring him into the restaurant. It is like he has never not been here. We can’t imagine life without him – he is just the one we ordered.”
Jennie and restaurant manager Chris had been together for five years before Albert came along on November 29. And while they’ve been blessed with a healthy baby, the couple were determined to give something back to St Mary’s Hospital in Manchester, where Jennie gave birth.
At their baby shower they asked guests to give donations to the neo-natal unit instead of gifts. Then after Albert was born, they donated the blood from his umbilical cord to the Anthony Nolan Trust so it could help someone in desperate need of a stem-cell transplant.
“The hospital was brilliant,” explains Jennie. “They were just amazing. It was so serene. The staff looked after me and all the other mums so well. I am just in awe of them.
“Anthony Nolan have got a unit there at St Mary’s so we donated the cord blood. Albert got a little vest saying, ‘I’m a born lifesaver’. It’s amazing to think he could help save someone. We were really happy that we did it.”
Manchester girl Jennie has done charity work from the early days of her career. After starting as stand-up comic while only 13, she played Michelle Morley in Emmerdale from 1999 until 2001, when at
17 she auditioned for the part of Fiz Brown in Corrie.
To show she could play a troubled teen she drew on what she’d learned in her dad’s charity work with youngsters.
After landing the part she began doing her own charity work, helping deprived children in Egypt through the Thebes Project, among other causes.
Corrie bosses had originally planned Fiz to be in only five episodes. But she was immediately popular with fans and was quickly made a permanent fixture.
Fast forward nearly 14 years and Jennie’s maternity leave is the first long-term break she’s had from the show.
She’s relishing the time off, taking Albert to mother-and-baby groups and finding her feet as a first-time-mum. One thing she’s learned is to trust her own instincts.
“So many people give you advice,” she says. “But every baby is different so what worked for them might not work for you. If any mum asks me, I will say, ‘Don’t listen to what any mum tells you!’ ”
She adds: “On the internet you can look at what your baby should be doing on day one or day 18. You might worry if your baby hasn’t done those things. I think the net is just there to scare you. I try just to be chilled out and find my own way.”
Jennie has also been getting hands-on at Annie’s. It was recently named Manchester’s best tea shop and the couple have launched an online service too. It’s important to them that their restaurant is family-friendly because they’ve had bad experiences elsewhere.
“I love it when I see mums in here with babies or toddlers,” says Jennie. “We want to make sure they feel welcome and to feed a baby too.
“I went to a place recently and the baby-changing facilities were either spotless or had never been used before. I had to actually ask two waiters whether they had one.
“And we walked out of another place the other week. The manager wasn’t impressed with our pram. He said it was going to be in his way and he would have to move it. So we just decided to go.”
Surely no one who’s seen Corrie would dare to mess with feisty Fiz. It shouldn’t be too long before they get a reminder because Jennie aims to be back before the show’s live episode in September to mark the 60th anniversary of ITV.
She won’t have any trouble catching up because she’s not missed an episode since going on maternity leave.
“I’m a huge fan of Corrie so I watch it anyway,” says Jennie. “Fiz is in Wolverhampton staying with her mum but I love it when I am watching and Tyrone mentions my name. But I have no idea what is going to happen with the story... in the last live episode I gave birth.”
Jennie will have a large support network for help and support when she does go back.
“I just couldn’t have a more perfect job and life for Albert,” she says.
“Corrie have been so good. When I go back there are so many mums around I will have for support. Albert has got so many doting 'aunties and uncles', including Uncle Antony Cotton, who can’t wait to look after him. There is a queue of people waiting to babysit.”
Even the producer? She laughs: “Stuart forgave him, I think.”
See Jennie discussing her lack of coffee-making skills in the video below
