Coronation Street brother and sister duo Rebecca and Jack James Ryan have revealed their hidden talent away from the screen. The pair, who joined the long-running soap last year, made a funny TikTok video as they showed off their skills away from the TV cameras.
Rebecca, who played stalker Lydia Chambers in the soap, and her younger brother, who plays Jacob Hay, had fun making a clip showing them at home as some country music came on. "Ew I hate country music," the clip was caption as former Shameless actress Rebecca looked fed-up, and her sibling agreed with her.
However the camera then cut to Rebecca, who played Debbie Gallagher in Shameless, looking quizzical and her toe started tapping to the music. She was then seen rushing to get changed out of her black velevety tracksuit into a slogan T-shirt, denim shorts, cream fringed jacket and matching cowboy hat and boots.
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The siblings were then seen joyously country dancing side-by-side on the dining room table. Rebecca, 31, previously told how she and Jack are 'best friends' and talk on the phone at least once a day. And she has more reason than most to feel protective towards Jack.
Five years ago he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Rebecca told The Mirror : “It definitely brought us closer together. I would die for my brother. We’re best friends and it’s been like that ever since we were kids.
"We talk on the phone at least once a day and I feel so protective towards him. I was there for him through all his hospital appointments, but I felt so helpless.”
Jack was a drama school student when he found the lump. He had surgery in 2017 and made a full recovery. He wrote a play Me & My Left Ball about his experiences.
Rebecca said: “I’m a very emotional person. I cry over adverts, I cry when I’m happy, when I’m sad and when I’m hungry, but this was weird. I did cry, but at the same time it felt like it wasn’t real.
“I couldn’t get my head around it. I kept thinking, 'It’s fine, it’s not happening. Everything is going to be all right.' That’s how I got through it and, luckily, he was all right."
She added: “Thank God, he checked himself and found the lump and got it looked at quickly. The NHS took him straight in and he was operated on. I can’t stress how important it is to check yourself and if you find anything, get it looked at straight away.”
When Rebecca took on her role as scheming Lydia in December 2021, no-one in the cast or crew knew she was related to Jack, who joined earlier in the year as drug dealer Jacob who has left his bad boy past behind after falling for Amy Barlow.
Rebecca said: “Nobody at Coronation Street had any idea. When I joined, I’d be talking to people and say, ‘Oh, yeah, my brother works here’. And they’d go, 'Really, who’s your brother? What? Jack!.' It’s a dream come true to be working on the show at the same time, but it’s a total coincidence."
Rebecca left the soap in March after her bunny boiler character Lydia set out to destroy ex-boyfriend Adam Barlow's marriage to Sarah Platt for the hurt he caused during their university days, leading her to seek an abortion at the age of 19. In dramatic scenes Adam plunged over balcony railings in a shopping centre after Lydia gave him a hard shove during a furious showdown.
At the hospital doctors told his family he had suffered a bleed behind the eye and needed surgery to save his sight. But Adam decided to call a truce and raced to the police station to ensure his ex was freed, saying he had slipped.
The actress, who shot to fame when she was just 11 in the gritty Manchester drama Shameless, grew up in Prestwich with mum Maranna, a psychiatric nurse, Jack and older brother Charlie. Their northern Irish mother Maranna was the first World Irish dancing champion. Inspired by her mother, Rebecca competed in numerous competitions from a young age and ranked third at age 12.
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