Coronation Street star Sally Carman-Duttine provoked amusement among soap fans when she mocked her real-life husband’s on-screen dramas.

The 42-year-old actress has played Abi Franklin on the ITV soap since 2017 – and happens to be married to Tim Metcalfe actor Joe Duttine, 53, in real life. Joe has played Tim on the soap since 2013 – but has also enjoyed success on other shows including Foyle’s War, Shameless and Casualty in the past.

Sally and Joe have been married since 2022, having been engaged since 2020, and both work on the ITV soap. And it seems Sally is a big fan of her husband’s work – but also isn’t afraid to tease him over the drama’s his character endures on the show.

In scenes that aired this week, viewers saw Tim forced to end his friendship with Steve McDonald – who has been played by 49-year-old Simon Gregson since 1989. Tensions rose between Tim and Steve as the latter began dipping his toe into the dating world after being left by on-screen wife Tracy Barlow.

But when Steve went out for a date with a woman he matched with on a dating app, Tim inadvertently got brought along for the date too. It then looked like the lads were on a double date as Steve’s love match brought a friend of her own – and these scenes did not sit well with Tim’s on-screen wife, Sally Metcalfe – played by soap icon Sally Dynevor, 60 – who demanded Tim dump Steve as a friend.

A crestfallen Tim accepted his wife’s demand – ditching Steve as his best mate in a difficult ‘break up’ scene. Watching along at home, Sally Carman-Duttine reacted to the touching scene to offer a mocking comment, writing under an official Coronation Street Instagram post: “Deeply moving stuff” – along with a crying-with-laughter emoji and a yellow heart emoji.

Fans of the ITV show leapt on Sally’s comment and were amused to see the star supporting her off-screen husband. One wrote in reply: “I feel your pain!!!” Another typed: “Oh the mischief.” And a further fan laughed: “Have a word.”

Sally and Joe first got together in 2018, became engaged two years later and tied-the-knot two years after that. The duo have made some rare comments about their relationship, with Sally teasing via ITV’s Lorraine in the past: “{We were] Friends for a while but then we started sharing puddings and that’s when I thought maybe something was on the boil.”