The actor on wearing men’s clothes, her bohemian family and the six-week soap job that turned into six years
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.
