Coronation Street Blog: Mollie Gallagher interview: Can anyone save Nina?

Tuesday 8 June 2021

Mollie Gallagher interview: Can anyone save Nina?

Nina is in self destruct mode. Can you sum up what is going through her head at the moment?

Nina feels a complete emptiness, an emptiness that she’s never felt before. She feels like she has lost everything, including herself. Nina is normally so strong-minded so her behaviour is very out of character. Roy is trying to help her and she is listening to him and she is smart but she can be stubborn at times and at this point no one can change her mind about what she is doing.

Roy and Asha try to help by posting her art on Instagram. Why does this backfire for Nina?

It’s Nina’s artwork and it’s her way of coping and taking her mind off things so it is very personal. Roy and Asha showing her art to the world on a social media platform is not what she wants whatsoever, she feels betrayed. When it’s shared publicly, Nina feels like that is not the reason why she would create her art as it’s just for herself and for no one else to see. Nina feels like her art was something she enjoyed and now that’s been taken away; everything she does and has is being taken away.

Carla also tries to reach out to her. When people are trying to help, does she know deep down that how she is trying to cope is wrong or is she oblivious and completely on a downward spiral?

She knows that what she is doing is not helping. When people are trying to reach out to her, like Carla, she just thinks, “Wow, it’s just drinking like other people do,” but when she is drunk and she feels all the sad emotions and getting involved in things that she wouldn’t do, it’s a bit of a wake up call. Some moments are more impulsive; yes, she is planning to drink but she is drinking so much alcohol and not caring and the consequences are impulsive decisions that aren’t really like Nina at all.

What happens when she tells Sarah to stick her job?

Nina is a very passionate person and she is career-minded so this is something that is completely unlike Nina. At this point, everyone is annoying her and she wants the ‘are you okay?’ questions to stop because she doesn’t like people to know how she truly feels. Normally she would take real pride in her art and her designs would be complete but she just goes into the factory and her heart is not in it. She is on the defense and when the client comes in, she thinks that everyone is being rude. Sarah wants to be nice to Nina but Nina is done with the day and walks out. She is on a rollercoaster of emotions, she is up and down and it’s a constant, quick change.

After a series of events, she bumps into Corey. What is it about this particular moment that makes her act the way she does?

It’s the fact that she sees Corey having fun and living his life. He is acting as though nothing has happened and he has people praising him for his football and she can’t understand how any of this is real. She can’t deal with him getting praise and looking so happy and his life is still so normal, it makes her furious and she is in shock.

What or who do you think can save Nina? Or do you think it has to come from within herself?

I do think it is very much about saving herself. She has the wise words of Roy in her ear and he is always trying to help and it does make her open her eyes. We will learn a lot more about Nina, what the relationship with her dad is like and how she lost her mum and dad who were the most important people in her life. But it needs to come from herself. She needs people to listen to her and she needs to share her emotions which is something that I don’t think she tends to do that much. Hopefully this will be the way forward for her because right now, she needs to restore her faith in the world and that’s a lot to get through. She has the right people around her and even if, at this stage, she isn’t fully taking that in, I hope that bit by bit she will start to feel something more.

What has it been like playing this side of Nina and how have you got yourself into her mindset?

When I first read the scripts I was really excited to play this side to Nina because I love the layers of the character and the depth that Nina has. When I play Nina I feel like I am her, I feel very attached to her and I think it’s really sad when you see a character like Nina who has her own specific ways and she was so distinctive and that has now gone for the moment. I’ve used physicality to show this new side to Nina because it’s like a new version of the character; everything is so different, like the way she walks, everything is so downbeat. Physically, she is a lot more introvert whereas before she was a very open person so I’ve tried to show that. The costume has also helped me get into her new mindset because she is wearing different shoes. Normally, she would wear Doc Martens and I wear Doc Martens as Mollie as well and now her shoes are a lot lighter so there is such a difference and it really changes the character.

Glenda Young

Novelist and author, published by Headline