Carla’s up in court this week for ABH, having knocked the lad off his bike. It’s been a tough start to the year, losing Peter then nearly losing Roy. Emotionally, how is she coping?
I think she's been doing pretty well all things considering, she’s kind of spinning plates I guess but at some point that’s going to come crashing down. As the day starts we see her with a letter and that really rocks her, she’s dealing with a lot and that’s when she makes rash decisions. That’s what happened when she knocked the boy off his bike, it was a rash decision trying to protect someone she loved and maybe an instinct in her that she didn't know still existed. She's putting her trust into different people, she's got Ryan and Bobby but there’s no one really there for her who’s a real grown up and I think this is where this bond with Lisa has stemmed from.
She gets through the court case but when she’s back on the street, the lad’s dad follows her and becomes quite threatening. How scared is Carla when it’s just the two of them in the factory?
She's been pushed to the edge, and she's had to justify herself in the courtroom. Outside she’s still making digs about the lad to Ryan when the dad appears and says that’s my son. She snaps back, making out he deserved it, especially with a dad like him which probably isn’t a great move. She's in a really vulnerable state on that day, she's had this letter, there’s a lot going on in her head and she just snaps. She’s trying to defend herself, although really she's got no defence whatsoever for what she did. She goes back to the factory, tells everybody to go home, then suddenly this lunatic appears, coming at her and really raising his voice in quite threatening behaviour. So she just goes into fight or flight and tries to flee but then Lisa appears and steps in, we hope just at the right time, but Carla’s really shaken by it.
Do we find out what was in the letter that’s left her so troubled?
She goes home and she starts drinking. It transpires that the letter was her divorce from Peter coming through. She goes into a kind of morose, maudlin mode. It’s just the end of a really, really bad day and tough as she is she’s feeling very sorry for herself.
Is she surprised when Lisa calls to check on her?
I think Carla’s still in shock and she’s very much in the moment. There is a real friendship growing between them and the fact that she's come around to check on her really means something to Carla. I think because she's taken Betsy on, there's kind of kindred spirit forming. We’ve seen Lisa have a bad day and Carla being a shoulder to lean on. She's got a lot of understanding about how difficult Betsy is, she's just come out of a relationship herself so she understands some of the loss Lisa is feeling after Becky. It's been a long time since Carla has had a female friend, somebody who's actually leaning on her but is also a powerhouse in her own right. Now Lisa is there for her, she’s leaning on Lisa for the first time and it's becoming quite a confusing friendship. Lisa keeps appearing, she’s always there because of that link through Betsy, and there’s a bond growing between them that Carla can’t quite define.
Are you enjoying working with Vicky and seeing this friendship develop?
I’m loving working with Vicky, she’s an absolute trooper and she’s very talented. I'm enjoying seeing their friendship coming through, with this friendship we’re seeing a more vulnerable side in them both, rather than just two very strong women. It's nice to see Carla opening up to another woman, rather than it all being intermingled with men. She’s suddenly got somebody around that really gets her. She has that closeness and banter with Ryan at home but with Lisa she can show that vulnerability that she so often hides. Lisa’s so serious but she quite likes it and she doesn't really know why, because in that sense they're polar opposite.
The viewers are loving watching that bond between them grow, do you think their closeness is something that Carla’s maybe not even fully aware of herself yet?
Definitely, I think every step of this friendship is taking her by surprise. The closeness between them for Carla comes from concern yet at times she can’t really put her finger on what this is.
We also need to talk about Betsy, because Betsy has brought a hell of a lot of trouble to Carla's door. Why does Carla keep sticking up for her, what is it that she sees in Betsy?
She definitely sees her younger self in Betsy, even though Betsy’s more privileged than Carla was when she was little. Carla grew up from absolutely nothing, whereas Betsy’s got these steady arms around but she can see the vulnerability, because she's missing something and is acting out because of it. Now, when Carla was young, she was used to that and acted out so she can pick up on the missing links and understand her, because she was like that at her age. Lisa’s giving herself such a hard time, telling herself I can’t do this, I'm not worthy. But there's something in Carla that goes, well I can, I can tell her what's what because I've been there. I think it’s surprised Carla and she’s actually quite enjoying it, because she's not had a child to bring up, she lost the chance of having her daughter and she did really really want that. She can handle Betsy, she finds her quite funny and the things she does amusing, because she’s done them herself. She knows Betsy, she gets her.
Are you enjoying playing the mother figure, because all of a sudden there's Betsy, then Ryan and Bobby at home?
I’m absolutely loving it, it’s something that's been thrown at Carla and is just really fun to play. They all seem to interlink, there’s a lot thrown in the mix but after Peter I think mummy Carla is quite funny and she’s doing quite well in her own way. She’s trying to keep them all in line but she also seems quite relaxed in the fact that they're all around her.
