Nick is obviously one of the suspects for the factory, does Nick care that people think it might be him?
I don’t think he does care. There is part of him that thinks that he’s at a bit of an advantage. The factory goes down, the roof collapses, stuff going missing, all these things happening which he sees as a bit of an opportunity. It’s knocked Carla off her perch, she’s not good when things start going rocky, he is. I don’t think he cares anymore. It’s not like he’s having to desperately say ‘I haven’t done it’, is there a bit of something in it for people to think he might have done it, and it makes people just a bit wary of him… He’s a bit more Machiavellian now and I think he sees it as an opportunity.
He sees himself as different to the people around him, doesn’t he?
Yes, he does, and I think that’s important now, I think it’s important that he’s a bit of a snob. He loves the street and it’s where he’s from and he’s not going to go, so now he’s decided that he’s here now, he wants to start running and this is how he wants to run it. He needs to build up businesses, make some money, be with the girl that he wants to be with. I think he looks around the factory and goes ‘God if I don’t do it, nobody’s going to do it, because Carla’s not riding in to save the factory and these lot aren’t, I can!’
He has a little bit of disdain for the workforce, doesn’t he?
Yes completely, I think he quite likes the comedy element between them, but I mean he’s aghast by how badly they work. But I think, weirdly, if he’s down and in the factory, it sort of slightly picks him up because there’s a bit of humour there with them. But I don’t think he thinks that they’re on the same level and I think he sees Carla as a bit of a broken one. The Carla he knows, he pushes, she gets hurt then she fights back and that was the Carla he fell in love with. This Carla now, is not the Carla he loved, if she got feisty, he would absolutely be with her because it excites him.
Does he feel at this stage that he’s got away with Audrey’s money scot-free?
I think the one thing is that it would all be fine if it wasn’t for Natalie, that’s the one thing that gets him. He’s fine with his brother, but Natalie is the weak link in his plan. He also was sure he would be able to pay Audrey back and he hasn’t as yet.
He doesn’t have much control over Natalie, does he?
No, he doesn’t at all, she doesn’t care about anyone involved, he thought he could control her but for that reason he can’t. She’s got so little to lose so he thinks it’s only a matter of time before she does something.
Talk to me about Nick and Imran’s relationship?
I don’t think he likes him. You might think he would be someone Nick admires but he doesn’t have any respect for him. Imran’s is obsessed with pointing the finger and blaming somebody. There’s two parts of it with Nick, it’s not going to help Imran if he finds out, it isn’t going to help him. He talks about his dad’s killer and how it didn’t help him finding him and that’s what Nick tries to tell Imran, that it doesn’t matter if you’ve found the killer, it doesn’t matter if you think it was me, it doesn’t matter if it was me, it will not help you. Imran annoys him, them living together has just been a recipe for disaster. It’s been a nightmare, because Nick is not good with lots of people, within his family he’s fine because they all love to hate each other and that’s what he knows but having Imran in close proximity has not worked for him.
Do you think he’s a little bit more worried about Toyah maybe?
She’s a lot smarter, I think she’s a bit more switched on in terms of what Nick is, the history of Nick and what he’s done to Leanne. I think she’s got a bit more ammunition to fire at him. I don’t think she falls for Nick’s bullsh*t as much; I think she sees through that much quicker. I think she’s the way of him losing Leanne, quite easily, Leanne will listen to her.
So going back to Audrey’s money he decides this week, because the net is tightening a bit to tell the police about the 30k put in the account, claiming it was from his own savings account, he’s a little rattled at this point isn’t he?
I think he knows it’s going to come out, he knows they’re going to go through the factory stuff. He knows there’s a chance that Carla would tell them about it because Carla was there, and I think he just wants to get in quick and say he made a mistake. He is trying to shut it down as quick as he can and he knows that each little bit he lets out is slightly more dangerous, he knows that. David is not quite as good, he’s not as calculated so David’s reactionary emotionally, he’ll go at Gail emotionally, he’ll go at Nick emotionally, Nick calculates the move a lot more.
Do you like playing this new version of Nick?
Yes, I think it’s much more interesting! Not that it wasn’t interesting before I think it was fulfilling the role which was head of the family of the Platts, he tried to provide a solid basis for the girls in his life, maybe get a family of his own. I think he’s blown all that now, he’s thought actually I’ve been married and divorced enough times, yeah this is great with Leanne but if it goes it goes. I think he’s much more nuanced. What I figured is it’s actually quite fun to play him differently with different people as that’s what happens in real life, isn’t it? We’re all different with different people, so with Nick’s Gran and Mum, he’s a different person and then with Leanne he’s a different person, with David he’s some way and with Carla he’s definitely a different person. But what I realised was that I didn’t have to play it always consistently, I could be duplicitous the audience can see those changes and go ‘oh he’s nasty’.
What reaction do you get?
I’m not on social media but I get the reaction the most when I’ve done the scene, I just did one today with the police and the director and other actors watching us said ‘oh my goodness, he’s nasty’ and then you know the audience will get that then. And I want to sort of toy with the audience now more, make them wonder what is Nick?
Do you like him?
Yeah I really do! But I wouldn’t be friends with him, I think he’s an idiot but I do like him, I suppose what I like about him his he’s now got to the stage of like ‘I know who I am, I know this street, I know the people on this street, I know business’ and you do get to that stage in life where you don’t care so much and you’re a bit like well actually I’m just going to go for myself. You couldn’t have started out with him in this way. You have to start with the audience going ‘but he wasn’t like that, he was nice and dependable’ and now he’s not.
Does Nick actually have any friends?
No, he doesn’t, he has his family and his business partners, but he has no friends. Dev is the only person who gets on with Nick and it’s because Dev’s a business owner and what Nick sees in Dev is that he doesn’t care, he’s had 6-7 businesses, he runs them how he wants to, he is where he wants to be. Nick likes that, he admires that and that’s what he fancied so much in Carla because she didn’t care, she ran a business she had the strength and the same in Leanne, bringing up a kid on her own. Nick loses the respect for the people that lose that spark and that fight.
Does he take pleasure in seeing Carla at rock bottom?
No, no he doesn’t take pleasure, if Carla asked him, he would help, there’s still a good part to him, he’s not evil. But she’s got herself in to a place that is so murky and she is always with Peter and Nick doesn’t believe he is helping her. I think if she was on her own, he would try to be her knight in shining armour but Carla and Peter are both broken. It’s not a place for Nick, he’s got enough going on. But I do think Nick is quite sad to see her like that, he likes the fire, but he doesn’t like how broken she is.
Glenda Young
Author: Belle of the Back Streets
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