Born in 1979 in Barnsley, Yorkshire, Katherine Kelly studied at Rada before beginning her career with the Royal Shakespeare Company and going on to perform at the National Theatre and Manchester’s Royal Exchange. Her first major television role came in 2006, when she joined Coronation Street as Becky McDonald, a part she played until 2012. Since then she has appeared in The Night Manager, Gentleman Jack, Mr Bates vs The Post Office and Inside No 9. She stars in In Flight, available now on Channel 4.
This is a very typical image of me aged four. I spent most of my preschool life with a towel on my head. It was a replacement for the long hair I so desperately wanted.
I’m the eldest of four; my two brothers and I were born within four years of each other. Because my mum is a very practical Yorkshire woman who hates waste, she bought boys’ coats for me so that they could be handed down. By the same token, she wouldn’t let me grow long, flowing hair. She said she didn’t have time for it – which, to be fair, was true. I was so dedicated to the pretend hair, I put ribbons in it and made them into pigtails.
Until I hit double figures, I was a very quiet child. I spent a lot of time in adult company and was very mature for my age. I wasn’t shy but I was like a sponge – I watched, took it all in, then it all came out in play. Even though I am very young in this picture, I can tell by how I’m ironing that skirt that I’m deep in character; “the busy mother”.
At this age I’d get changed three times a day using clothes from the fancy dress box. I had a rural upbringing: always on my bike, running around in fields or building dens out of all the haystacks, but I’d always add a layer of imagination to the situation. My brothers and I would be playing football and I’d go, “Right, so let’s imagine we’re this kind of team, and your name’s this, and your name’s that.” They’d reply, “Or, let’s just play football?”
Even though I was quite unusual, I managed to fit in and had loads of friends. Still, I had this deep suspicion about myself. Maybe it was my family. Most people probably think their family is different, but mine really were. There was a bohemian-ness to my house. Before they had kids, my parents were club singers, and even after we were born they were night owls. We didn’t have much routine. The Kellys were that family who were always late. Music was on everywhere all the time – my dad plays everything, all self-taught; so do my brothers. They would think nothing of eating dinner, then getting the instruments out. My friends were very accepting of me being a bit different, but I remember feeling very embarrassed when they came to mine and my dad was trying to get them to join in with an old Irish ballad they’d never heard of. Aside from the sociable spirit, my dad was a coalminer and we had that Yorkshire work ethic. A very practical, down-to-earth attitude; an interesting blend.
At high school, when my hormones kicked in, I became a new person. I was very outward and good fun, all for the craic. My parents were invested in applauding everything we did. They did amateur dramatics and took us to watch rehearsals or performances because they didn’t have babysitters. My siblings and I were really embraced by the community there. When I was nine, Mum asked me if I’d like to be in one of the musicals in the chorus. The director was Simon Armitage’s father, Peter. I never had some epiphany that acting was my destiny. Opportunities just presented themselves. I walked through one door and another opened.
When I was 18 I started applying for drama schools and I got into Rada. I wasn’t nervous at the audition as I was prepared for them to say no. Acting was something I enjoyed and I would not stop if I didn’t get in. If I could pay my mortgage doing it – what a bonus.
When I finished at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2005, I found myself surrounded by exciting prospects – from the RSC asking me back for the next season to auditions at different theatres. But metamorphosis is so important to me, and I remember saying to my agent, “I should probably do a bit more telly.” My biggest ambition has always been to play the widest variety of characters I can, and I was worried I was being put in a lane. Miraculously, my agent called and said, “There’s this character in Coronation Street; she’s only in it for six episodes. What do you think?” I can’t bear snobbery – I don’t regard art as high brow or low brow – so I said, “Of course I want to audition!” Thankfully, I got it, and I did the six episodes, which turned into years.
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If they’d told me at the start, “You’re going to be in a soap for six-and-a-half years,” I’d have said absolutely not. The idea of playing the same character for that long felt unbearable. How wrong I’d have been. The writers took Becky McDonald on such a journey she was almost unrecognisable by the end – she was the seven deadly sins rolled into one. I left just as things risked becoming repetitive, and went back to theatre. They greeted me with, “Hello again! Where’ve you been?” Even now, the stage is the great love of my life.
Have I ever faced any challenges in my career? If I said yes, I would be lying. There’s no such thing as failure in art, I don’t think. Of course, not every part I’ve played has been a success, but I enjoy the artists that “fail” – the ones that tread the line – because that’s what’s captivating. I’d rather take the risk and try to do something interesting so I can see where it lands, instead of being beige and predictable.
In Alice in Wonderland the Cheshire Cat says, “We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad. You must be, or you wouldn’t be here.” When I look at the girl in the photo, I realise how lucky I was to find the career I ended up in – to meet others with the same intense imagination. Throughout my childhood, mine felt in overdrive compared with everyone my age in the small town I grew up in. It was too much for them, and at times too much for me. Back then I had to rein it in a little. I mean, as a busy mother, you have to go to the shops sometimes, no matter what your hair looks like.
