Suranne Jones recalls hilarious story of how she met her husband at Sally Lindsay's wedding

Suranne Jones
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Suranne Jones has revealed how she met her hubby at the wedding of her former Coronation Street co-star Sally Lindsay.

The Doctor Foster star, who found fame on Corrie as Karen McDonald, first met her future husband, screenwriter Laurence Akers, at Lindsay's wedding. Suranne revealed how Alan Carr and Carol Vorderman were also at the 2013 bash as Lindsay wed Style Council drummer Steve White.

Talking to The Times, Suranne recalled: "Tony Wood, who was the producer of Coronation Street, introduced Sally and Steve. So I jokingly said to him at the wedding, who are you going to introduce me to? He said, I do have a friend, he's over there. Laurence was sitting next to Carol Vorderman. I think Alan Carr was also on that table. 

"When I went out to the balcony to have a fag, Laurence came out and lit my cigarette and offered me his jacket. Later I was dancing with the actor Peter Eccleston, the partner of Antony Cotton from Coronation Street. Laurence came over and said, 'Can I cut in?' But he took Peter instead of me and was flinging him around the dancefloor. I thought, 'Oh, he’s very funny.' We swapped numbers.

"I was then in Orlando at the Royal Exchange in Manchester, and Laurence boldly came to see the play. That was it. Five months later he proposed and nine months later I was pregnant. Our son is now eight."

Suranne Jones and Laurence Akers

Suranne with her husband  Laurence Akers  (Image credit: Getty Images)

The popular actress, who was recently seen in Vigil 2, is fronting in a new documentary series for C4, Suranne Jones: Investigating Witch Trials.

Talking to us about why she made the series, she said: "I've always loved literature on folklore, fairy tales, witches and vampires; the darker characters, the more powerful characters, the characters that have dark sides or are misunderstood. I always wanted to play the witch when I was younger, rather than a princess, and then when I got married, my husband was always saying, 'is that another witch book that you're reading?'. 

"So, when we started our production company, he said to me, 'why don't we do a documentary? Would you be interested?' He wrote a brilliant treatment for me and sent it off, and the next thing we knew, it was commissioned. Our target was to make this documentary of modern-day relevance."

An image for Suranne Jones: Investigating Witch Trials showing Suranne Jones standing in a field. There is a small tree behind her, its branches twisted and gnarled, and there are no leaves on the tree. The sky behind her is full of dark clouds

(Image credit: Channel 4)

Suranne Jones: Investigating Witch Trials launches on Sunday, June 23 on Channel 4 at 9pm, with the second episode airing the following Sunday, June 30, at 9pm.

David Hollingsworth
Editor

David is the What To Watch Editor and has over 20 years of experience in television journalism. He is currently writing about the latest television and film news for What To Watch.

Before working for What To Watch, David spent many years working for TV Times magazine, interviewing some of television's most famous stars including Hollywood actor Kiefer Sutherland, singer Lionel Richie and wildlife legend Sir David Attenborough. 

David started out as a writer for TV Times before becoming the title's deputy features editor and then features editor. During his time on TV Times, David also helped run the annual TV Times Awards. David is a huge Death in Paradise fan, although he's still failed to solve a case before the show's detective! He also loves James Bond and controversially thinks that Timothy Dalton was an excellent 007.

Other than watching and writing about telly, David loves playing cricket, going to the cinema, trying to improve his tennis and chasing about after his kids!