Coronation Street Blog Interview: Kate Oates

The Barlow family is about to get bigger to the tune of one grandson and a son in the forms of Adam Barlow and Daniel Osbourne. I travelled to Manchester to hear all about what’s to come, and am delighted to bring you a trio of interviews with Rob Mallard, Sam Robertson and producer Kate Oates.

While Kate accompanied Rob and Sam for their interviews, as she gave some great insights into the building of this male Barlow dynasty, I thought I would dedicate a separate blog to her comments on the day.

Kate confirms that it is Ken’s stroke that brings back the boys. “Adam is coming from Canada, and Daniel has been living elsewhere with his Mum, with Denise” she explains, “And they are coming back ostensibly to see Ken but there may be other reasons they’re back as well.”

Kate revealed the interesting thought processes behind the decision to go this route with the Barlow clan. “The kind of interesting thing that I found when we were talking about bringing the boys in was that sense that Adam is Mike’s son, and Daniel is Ken’s son, and the old tradition of Corrie was Ken versus Mike, and here we have sort of new fresh versions of both those personalities” she explains. “So that’s what we wanted to bring into the show really, and that they are very very different. And Ken sort of holds the family together, sometimes not ever so well as we saw in that scene between him and Peter where Peter said, ‘you know, you walk away a lot’.” She continues, “Daniel’s certainly hardly seen his father and [Adam has] hardly seen [his] grandfather so it’s not the strong family that Ken might like to think it is. But I love that idea of mini-Mike, but fresh, modern, with his own kind of swagger, and a mini-Ken with his own kind of baggage and his view of life as well. I just think that’s a really nice dynamic to bring to the street.”

So what are we likely to see the boys get up to the cobbles?

“In true Ken fashion, Daniel is a student, he’s an academic, so he’s still at university,” she reveals, “and Adam has trained as a solicitor over in Canada, so he’s got a little bit of legal knowledge. He’s also got a lot of ambition, not unlike his father, so he’ll be bringing a bit of that to the street.”

Asked who we are likely to see the pair involved with, Kate explains,

“Well it’s interesting, because obviously Adam has more history so he has pre-existing relationships with quite a few people in the street. He’s got some grudges against the Connors because he sold his section of the business to the Connor family for not a lot of money, they sort of swindled him a little bit really. So even though Liam Connor is no longer on the street he certainly has that sort of grudging relationship with them. They’re building family relationships really” she notes. “Daniel has yet to get to know Peter and Tracy and even his father really, you know, he’s never had these relationships before, so he’s building all of those from scratch. Adam has more to go on there, certainly with Peter, but it’s nice to see those Barlow bonds growing. Daniel is a bit more shy I think. and we will be growing some nice relationships for him as time goes on, but I might keep those a secret.”

Asked if these are temporary or more permanent returns for the characters, Kate jokes, “They’re never allowed to leave, I’m keeping them forever. They’re never allowed to go anywhere. I repeat” adding, “no, I’m super excited. The reason that I wanted these guys back, and this may trip me up come next contract negotiations, is because I wanted to strengthen that family dynasty. I think that the show needed that and I’ve said before in interviews that when you’re working on the country’s longest running show and this is the longest running family, you strengthen it. There’s no bringing in the secret son that no one knew existed, or the secret sibling that no one knew existed, these people already exist and have been seen in one way shape or form and have all that great history already and it’s just there for the taking. So it’s just a case of bringing it to the show and deciding what they’ve done over the last few years and months and making sure that their back stories and their biogs were nice and rich and that they turned up with a secret or two.”

Asked if we are talking a major dysfunctional Barlow clan, she laughs, “Oh God yeah!”

Kate continues, “It is a little bit like Ken Lear. Well, that was very much what we were thinking, because Ken is at an age now where he is sort of thinking about his mortality and the fact that he’s had a stroke will compound that massively, and he loves his children and his grandchildren but he hasn’t necessarily done right by them all the time.” She notes, “He’s not necessarily been brilliant or exemplary, they’ve certainly got baggage of their own. But I think ultimately they all still have desires to be there and be part of that family and look for a root and a home. So there’s lots of nice conflicting layers, things that people can really relate to on a very day to day level. But also we’ll be adding a nice splash of drama in there too which will hopefully elevate it from the everyday.”

I was interested to know how they would interact with Tracy, and Kate told me “She thinks that Daniel’s really weird and really nerdy and really bookish and like a mini-Ken which she doesn’t think is necessarily a good thing and I think she thinks Adam’s a bit more glitzy, and a bit more fun and a bit more worth hanging out with. So yes, they know each other from old as well, so there is a bit of an existing relationship there.”

Remarking on the expanding households of Corrie, Kate assures us they won’t all be in number one for long. “We’ve sorted out the geography, we’re fine, we’re good” she smiles. “No, there is sometimes a little bit of artistic license with how many people we shoehorn into various properties. They’re going to be roommates on their own really, which is quite a nice dynamic I think. They’re going to be the odd couple.

So, what can we expect to happen in the Barlow household coming up to Christmas?

“There’s a lot of them sorting out the dynamics of their relationships” she reveals. “Peter has come back with a bit of a secret, we’ve seen that he’s come back with a bit of an injury, we’ve seen he’s got no money and we saw that he went to go and meet somebody in the middle of the night and possibly wasn’t completely honest about who, so there are little clues there.” She continues, “His bond with Leanne is still pretty strong and he’s still very fond of her. She’s obviously in a very different place now. She’s pregnant and she’s with Nick, so maybe she’s in a very different headspace to him. But there’s going to be a story for him which these guys will be involved with. It’s about people trying to work out their relationships with Ken and him maybe not handling that ever so well. And as we pass through sort of up to Christmas and into the beginning of next year, we’ll see cracks forming in the family which could prove quite dangerous, so these are the building blocks of stories into winter.”

With regard to Adam, Kate reveals that he may wish to settle some old scores, and something may prevent him from returning to Canada leaving him having to earn a living in Weatherfield.

It’s great to hear the new producer eager to build upon the history of, and focus on, such a legendary Corrie family, and I look forward to seeing it all unfold.

Read my interviews with Rob Mallard and Sam Robertson. 

By Emma Hynes
www.emmahynes.net
Twitter: @ELHynes
Facebook: @EmmaHynesWrites
Instagram: emmalouhynes

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