Sally Lindsay and the importance of date nights

Sally Lindsay has been a busy woman since leaving Coronation Street ten years ago.

She has become a mum of twin boys, born in 2010 and has continued to be in demand from the small screen, including Scott & Bailey the show she conceived with Surrane Jones. Since 2011 she has starred in the hit Sky show Mount Pleasant which is about to embark on a fifth series. The last series saw Lindsay’s character Lisa split from her husband Dan. As a mum herself , Lindsaywho is married to drummer Steve White, recognises the strain having children can put on a marriage, if you don’t set aside the time for each other.

“It’s the best and the worst time of your life,” says the 43-year-old. “You’re exhausted, you don’t know what’s hit you, you’ve never known tiredness like it. You have a relationship, but it’s about them. It’s a lovely thing and it’s the best thing to ever happen to you, but it’s that recalibration, and I think people responded to that.”

Revealing that she and Steve are “dead strict” about spending quality time together, “We’ve done that forever, even before it was called ‘date nights’”, Lindsay admits she works hard to maintain a balance for her own family, especially when she’s filming away from their London home.

“If we get a bit like ships that pass, we get a babysitter, we dress up and we go out. It’s massively important because it keeps you together for your children. It’s an investment in their future, more than yours.”

She’s pleased her five-year-olds don’t quite grasp the concept of their mum being ‘famous’ yet.

“They sort of think everyone is on TV,” says Lindsay who studied English at Hull University. “We don’t do anything in ‘that’ world and everything is very normal for them. I don’t know what they’re feeling in their little heads - sometimes I feel a bit, ‘What have we done?’ They’re probably a bit too young, but I think it will manifest.”

So far, Lindsay’s 40s may have been centred around her most prized role yet - motherhood - but she confesses that landing dream jobs might not always be that simple.

“Most of my stuff, I have pretty much created myself,” she explains. “It’s always been a bit of a development process with me. There are a lot of better female roles out there, but I think when you pass 40, it gets harder and I made a decision when I was 30 not to care.

One thing Lindsay is keen to champion, however, is the influx of female-led work on the small-screen.

“Women like to watch women who look like real women. Women are sick of watching people walking through French windows looking for Mr Darcy. It was a Nineties thing and we’re over that. We like Happy Valley - proper, amazing drama and comedies led by women. There are loads of things I want to do: there are two drama comedies I have written the idea of and two sitcoms I’ve written. So I haven’t finished,” she concludes with a grin. “I haven’t started yet.”