Joanne Cresswell was Jenny Bradley's school friend in her final year at Weatherfield Comprehensive. Joanne sometimes tagged along with Jenny to Jim's Cafe during their lunch hour, including one occasion where Joanne ordered greasy chips, telling Phyllis Pearce that she was on a "high cholesterol low life expectancy" diet, which was looked upon favourably by the pensioner as she disliked the modern trend of healthy eating.
While they were at the cafe, Alan Bradley arrived in search of a take-out, prompting Jenny to suggest that he use the time to have lunch with Rita Fairclough, however Alan said he couldn't spare the time. Once Alan had left, Joanne commented to Jenny that Alan could be avoiding Rita if he had someone else, but she refused to be drawn on the matter. Jenny later managed to get the truth out of Joanne: that she'd seen Alan coming out of Carole Burns's house at 41 Oakwood Road a few times, and that she'd given him a passionate kiss. Jenny subsequently forced the truth out of Alan, causing a brief separation between Alan and Rita.
In March 1989, Joanne and Jenny's parents threw a joint 18th birthday party for the girls at the Mortlake Hotel. The party started off well, however Alan and Rita were delayed getting to the party and Joanne's mum kept on at her daughter to get Jenny to phone them. She did and when Jenny got through, she and Martin Platt immediately rushed off. The next morning, Joanne tried to get hold of Jenny and, getting no response at 7 Coronation Street, complained to Mavis Wilton at The Kabin about Jenny disappearing from her own party. When Mavis told her that Rita had been taken to hospital due to an accident, Joanne cooled. In reality, Rita had been assaulted by Alan when she confronted him about him borrowing money against the house in her late husband Len's name.
Jenny and Joanne kept in touch after leaving school and in September, when they were awaiting their exam results, they discussed what they wanted to do. Joanne was hoping to get the B she needed to get into Leeds University, but Jenny thought she'd be better going to Brighton as she was going there. Aware of Jenny's interest in Martin Platt, Joanne asked Jenny if she would miss him. Bitter that Martin was now in a relationship with the much older Gail Tilsley, Jenny replied that she was glad to get away from him.