Sherrie Hewson

Sherrie Lynn Hutchinson (born 17 September 1950), known professionally as Sherrie Hewson, is an English actress, television personality and novelist.

She is known for her roles as Maureen Holdsworth in Coronation Street (1993–1997, 2006), Virginia Raven in Crossroads (2001–2003), Lesley Meredith in Emmerdale (2004–2006), Joyce Temple-Savage in Benidorm (2012–2018) and Martha Blake in Hollyoaks (2024–2025).

Hewson was also a main panellist on lunchtime chat show Loose Women (2003–2017) and came sixth place in Celebrity Big Brother in 2015. She has also appeared as Doreen Nesbitt (1979-1980) and Mary Henshaw in In Loving Memory (1984–1986) and as Jean in Barbara (1999–2003) on television, and has starred in the films Carry On Behind (1975), The Slipper and the Rose (1976) and Hanover Street (1979). Hewson has also written three books including a fiction book and a cookery book.

Born in Beeston, near Nottingham, Hewson was brought up in a show-business family; her father Ronald was a singer and her mother Joy was a model. Hewson began attending the local dance and dramatics school at the age of three. She then attended Dorothy Grants High School for Girls in Beeston, although after the family had moved to a large manor house in Burton Joyce, Hewson completed her primary education at the village school.

Aged twelve, Hewson was enrolled at The Rodney School, a boarding school in nearby Kirklington. Already a member of the Burton Joyce Players, Hewson attended the Midland Academy, studying drama and poetry, before she was granted a scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where she attended from age 18. While studying at RADA, Hewson shared a flat with fellow students Sharon Maughan and Louise Jameson.

Hewson made her screen debut in two episodes of Z-Cars before appearing in The Moonstone and Within These Walls. In 1975, she joined the Carry On team for the film Carry On Behind and was subsequently cast in several episodes of the Carry On Laughing television series.

As well as further film roles in The Slipper and the Rose with Richard Chamberlain and Edith Evans and Hanover Street with Harrison Ford, Hewson became a regular fixture on television, most notably as part of a young cast of future stars in Love For Lydia. She also had a brief role in the 1979 Alan Bennett drama Afternoon Off as Iris, the ultimately unworthy object of the protagonist Lee's quest.

In the 1980s, as well as appearances in dramas such as Play for Today, The Sandbaggers, Minder, Juliet Bravo and The Gentle Touch, Hewson's talent for comedy saw her invited to join Russ Abbot's Madhouse series, where she remained an integral part of his team for over ten years, later appearing in The Russ Abbot Show. Other comedy appearances included roles in Home to Roost, Home James!, Never the Twain and Haggard, while she was also a foil for various comedians, including Stanley Baxter, Les Dawson, Little and Large, Cannon and Ball and Les Dennis. Her most famous role during this period was as Mary Henshaw in the sitcom In Loving Memory with Thora Hird and Christopher Beeny.