SALLY ANN MATTHEWS
JOINS THE CAST OF THE
UK AND IRELAND TOUR OF
HERE & NOW
FROM 23 JANUARY 2026
The producers of the UK and Ireland tour and WhatsOnStage Award-nominated musical HERE & NOW, presented by UK pop sensation, Steps, are delighted to announce that Coronation Street star Sally Ann Matthews will take over the role of Patricia from 23 January 2026. Sally takes over the role from originator Finty Williams who finished her run in December 2025.
Sally Ann Matthews is best known for playing the role of Jenny Bradley in ITV’s Coronation Street. She joined the show in 1986 through to 1991, she returned for a brief return in 1993 before coming back as a regular in 2015 staying with the show until October 2025. Outside of the role that spanned 39 years Sally has starred in various theatre productions including: Mum’s The Word (UK Tour), The Business of Murder (UK Tour), Present Laughter (UK Tour), Killing Time (UK Tour) and The Accrington Pals (Bolton Octagon).
Her other TV and film credits include: Murdered by My Boyfriend (BBC), The 4 O’Clock Club (BBC), My Mad Fat Diary (Channel 4), EastEnders (BBC), Being Human (BBC), Song for Marion (Steel Mill Pictures) and Brassed Off (Miramax Films).
Sally joins Lara Denning as Caz, Jacqui Dubois as Vel, Blake Patrick Anderson as Robbie, Rosie Singha as Neeta, River Medway as Jem, Chris Grahamson as Gareth, Edward Baker-Duly as Max, Ben Darcy as Ben, John Stacey as Lesley and Lauren Woolf as Tracey.
The cast is completed by Georgia Christofi, Kade Ferraiolo, Albert Green, Harry Jack, Casey Jay, Charlie-Jay Johnson, Rosemary Annabella Nkrumah, Dean Rickards, Markus Södergren, Genevieve Taylor and Jessica Vaux.
Jack Palmer (Mary & George, Sky; Better Man, Partizan) also joins the show as Off Stage Swing.
Featuring Steps’ most beloved hit songs, HERE & NOW has an original book by Shaun Kitchener and is produced by the band and ROYO with Pete Waterman. It is directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, with choreography by Olivier Award-winning Matt Cole and Matt Spencer-Smith as musical supervisor, orchestrator and arranger.
It’s Friday night and the vibe is right as Caz and her fabulous friends dream of the perfect summer of love. But when Caz discovers her ‘happy ever after’ is a lie, and the gang’s attempts at romance are a total tragedy, they wonder – will love ever get a hold on their hearts? Or should they all just take a chance on a happy ending…
Steps (Claire Richards, Faye Tozer, Ian ‘H’ Watkins, Lee Latchford-Evans and Lisa Scott-Lee) are the UK’s most successful mixed sex pop group of all time, with 14 top five singles, 4 number one albums, 22 million record sales, 500 million streams & 11 sold-out national arena tours under their belts. The band’s hits include #1 singles Tragedy/Heartbeat and Stomp, the gold certified One For Sorrow & Better Best Forgotten, the silver certified 5,6,7,8, Last Thing On My Mind, Love’s Got A Hold On My Heart, Chain Reaction, all of which will feature in the musical alongside many more.
Steps’ 2017 comeback tour sold out all 300,000 tickets, making it one of the biggest pop tours of the year. The band have since continued to release new music including two further iTunes #1 singles, the Sia-penned What The Future Holds in 2020 and the Michelle Visage duet Heartbreak In This City in 2022. In 2022 Steps celebrated their 25th anniversary with a headline summer tour and released the #1 album Platinum Collection which means they join ABBA, Rolling Stones and Stereophonics as the only groups in UK history to score #1 albums in four consecutive decades.
Musical supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Matt Spencer-Smith, set design by Tom Rogers, costume design by Gabriella Slade, lighting design by Howard Hudson, sound design by Adam Fisher, wigs and hair design by Sam Cox, make-up design by Jackie Saundercock, casting by Will Burton for Grindrod Burton Casting, Music Technology by Phij Adams and Production Management by Setting Line.
Website: TheStepsMusical.com
Instagram: @TheStepsMusical
X: @TheStepsMusical
TikTok: @TheStepsMusical
Facebook: @TheStepsMusicalUK
2025/26 TOUR SCHEDULE
20– 24 January 2026 Southampton Mayflower Theatre 02380 711811
27 – 31 January Belfast Grand Opera House
www.goh.co.uk
3 – 7 February Cardiff Wales Millennium Centre
10 – 15 February York Grand Opera House
17 – 22 February Oxford New Theatre
www.atgtickets.com/Oxford
24 February – 1 March Edinburgh Playhouse
www.atgtickets.com/Edinburgh
10 – 15 March Wolverhampton Grand 01902 42 92 12
24 – 29 March Theatre Royal Plymouth 01752 267 222
31 March – 4 April Milton Keynes Theatre
www.atgtickets.com/milton-keynes-theatre
8 – 12 April Blackpool Opera House 0844 770 0593*
www.wintergardensblackpool.co.uk
14 – 19 April Norwich Theatre Royal 01603 630 000
www.norwichtheatre.org
21 – 26 April Hull New Theatre 01482 300 306
www.hulltheatres.co.uk
28 April – 3 May Leicester Curve 0116 242 3595
5 – 10 May Leeds Grand Theatre 0113 243 0808
12 – 16 May Canterbury Marlowe Theatre 01227 787787