Actress and comedienne Janice Connolly appeared on Coronation Street in three roles:
- Dolly Gartside, who appeared in January 2004 as the overbearing mother of Newton & Ridley drayman Eric who briefly dated Shelley Unwin
- Sheila Wheeler, a short-term assistant to Norris Cole in The Kabin during October 2009
- Madame Sienna, a fraudulent psychic booked for an appearance at the Viaduct Bistro in July 2022.
Connolly is best known for her character Barbara Nice - a caricature of a middle-aged housewife and mother of five from Stockport. Her act is heavily reliant on interaction with the audience and she performs on the comedy circuit as a headline act and has performed one woman shows across the UK. Whilst performing as Nice, she was spotted by Peter Kay and went on to appear in his shows That Peter Kay Thing, Phoenix Nights and Max & Paddy's Road to Nowhere.
Founder member and artistic director of the Women and Theatre company in Birmingham, her other credits include roles in The Locksmith, Doctors, Dead Man Weds, Thin Ice, Lunch Monkeys and In with the Flynns.