Coronation Street Blog: Mark Frost interview: Why sleazy Ray wants to flatten the Street

Tuesday, 24 November 2020

Mark Frost interview: Why sleazy Ray wants to flatten the Street

What is Ray’s motive for flattening Coronation Street?

Other than wealth, he is extremely ambitious but the thing about Coronation Street is that it chimes with him because he was born in similar surroundings. The residents of Coronation Street are proud of their roots and their community however Ray has always wanted to better himself and move in much bigger circles. He is ashamed of his roots and he wants to distance himself so his pursuit of wealth and status is a way of reinventing himself. Ray talks about making his millions by himself on the back of a burger stall outside of Maine Road as a kid so he can’t abide poverty and equates it to laziness. He believes you pull yourself up by your bootstraps to succeed and anything less is a sign of weakness. He almost has a personal loathing for the residents of Coronation Street because they are sentimental and they have a sense of pride in their community which he sees as a sign of weakness.

This week Abi rallies the neighbours round to gatecrash Ray’s press launch. With the history between Abi and Ray, is he fearful of her attempts to thwart his plans?

Ray grossly underestimates Abi. Like many powerful men, Ray thinks of people as commodities and he has a very suspect attitude towards women so that arrogance has led him to write Abi off as a loser and a lowlife but I think she has genuinely got under his skin. Ray’s weakness is that he allows things to get personal and instead of just getting on with his business he wants to rub people’s noses in it, Abi and Kevin in particular. At the moment, Abi is still just an irritant but he is beginning to realise that she is actually causing more trouble than he bargained for as she is relentless and does not give up. It’s dawning on him that he is going to have to sort her out, one way or another.

If the street came together in a bid to fight Ray’s plans, how far would Ray go to get what he wants?

We don’t know yet what Ray’s situation is but we are beginning to see the cracks in his empire. Things are starting to get out of control for him and the stakes are high so that combined with the need to quell the protest is pushing him further and further. He is becoming more desperate and as the opposition gains numbers, he is also having to go to more extreme lengths.

Ray is a ruthless character, how do you get into the mindset to play a character like him?

Ray is quite a lonely character because he looks down his nose at everybody else and he has to be the top dog so in every situation he is always looking for people’s weaknesses. For me, what I try to do is flesh that out with where that may have come from because underneath that there has to be some insecurity or unhappiness - why does he always feel like he has to win? He genuinely thinks he is quite clever and charming and there is always a game going on with him so he is a very fun character to play.

How much did you know about this storyline when you first came into the show? What is it like to be involved in Coronation Street’s 60th anniversary storylines?

When I first came into the show I was told that he was a businessman and he has a slightly sleazy attitude towards women but I had no idea that his business ambitions would put him at odds with the rest of the street. It’s been fantastic and a real privilege to be involved in the 60th anniversary storylines. I had a scene where Ray is really unpleasant to Ken Barlow and I felt that of all the things that I have done in the show, that was the worst... I was disrespectful to a national treasure! I kept coming out of character saying, ‘I can’t say that to Ken, that’s just awful!’ William Roache is such a gent and it’s lovely to be involved in Coronation Street history. I really appreciate what Coronation Street means to people so it is quite special to be involved in television history and something I will look back on very fondly.

Glenda Young

Author of gritty, family saga novels with Headline