This week we see Daniel start work as a newly qualified teacher. Is this a dream job for him after all the training?
I think he wants to do something meaningful with his life and being a teacher is meaningful so in that sense yes. However I also think there’s a slight reluctance to it because it’s what Ken did. He gets on with his dad now but he didn’t always and I think there’s probably a bit of resistance to following too closely in his footsteps.
Do you think he’s going into the job with rose tinted glasses and if so how quickly does it become apparent that there’s more to teaching than just delivering your love of English literature?
Very quickly, I think he’s very brave going to teach at secondary school! I think he has this idea of going in and finding that one student you manage to help in such a way that later down the line they come back and say you changed my life. But he very quickly realises he’s got a room full of 30 kids who don’t care.
He has both ends of the spectrum doesn’t he with Summer who’s a model student and wants his help, then Max who’s not interested and purposefully disruptive. What are his relationships like with the pair?
Summer is the model student and he has lots of time for her but he doesn’t have the same time for Max. It’s a professional conflict, he knows he’s supposed to give equal time to all of his students but he definitely has a preference. It’s a logical preference because you can’t force someone to learn, then you’ve got someone else there who's really keen. They're two very different students.
So how does Daniel handle it when Max starts to play up in class and he makes a comment about Daniel’s past relationship with Bethany?
He’s shocked because as far as he’s concerned that’s in his past, the fact that David's been bad mouthing him behind closed doors, Daniel didn’t realise his reputation was still so bad in the Platt household.
Daniel makes a comment to David about Max using his ADHD and taking David for a mug, do you think that really sets up Daniel and David against each other?
At the time there’s nothing more in it but I think Daniel’s pomposity gets under David’s skin because David’s not got the academic background that he has, he needs Daniel’s help with the tutoring and that grates on him.
When Daniel’s wallet goes missing after he’s had all the trouble with Max does he just jump to the conclusion that it must be Max?
Yet straightaway, he sees Max hovering around his desk so he immediately thinks Max has done it, also Max’s reaction to him just makes him fly off the handle. He keeps him in detention after school then actually gets physically aggressive towards him in the street.
Does Daniel realise he’s gone too far?
He definitely realises when other people start to say you’re going to get fired, you can’t do this in the middle of the street, he’s let him get under his skin. Then when the head calls him in for a meeting he knows he’s overstepped a line.
Is he worried about his job?
Yes it’s quite a process doing your PGCE and becoming a teacher, it’s an investment that he doesn’t want to have no return on.
In the midst of this we see Daisy trying to calm Daniel down, what are his feelings towards her?
He’s interested in her but he’s also wary of her because of the Alya and Ryan triangle. He jumped in very quickly with Nicky, he jumped in very quickly with Bethany and to some extent with Sinead, he was set up to go to Oxford when he met her, so he doesn’t want to do that again. His life could have been very different if he hadn’t stuck around with Sinead, which I think is one of the reasons why he chooses to help Summer over Max, he sees that he can help Summer escape Weatherfield. I don’t think he regrets any of the choices he made but looking back he knows his life could have been very different had he made a different choice there.
I imagine it’s hard to regret that now he has Bertie as he does really love him doesn’t he?
It’s not a regret, it's just an alternate timeline, we all have them, where one decision can change the course of your life.
How is Daniel coping with being a single dad?
I think that he’s taken to it quite well because it’s a piece of Sinead, Bertie matters to him, he’s a living piece of her so he takes being his dad very seriously.
So what is he attracted to in Daisy, they are very different people?
Very! Daisy’s very forthcoming whereas Bethany and Sinead were both quite reserved, never rude, nor did they stretch their ambition so he’s interested in that aspect of Daisy, she’s feisty. She’s really not his type though, she’s brunette for a start and he’s got a long track record with blondes with Sinead, Bethany and Nicky. She's different, she’s not like the women who’ve come into his life in the past but she also scares him a bit. He can tell that she’s calculated but then he’s attracted to that danger, we’re all attracted to a bid of danger.
Do you think their differences could mean a relationship could work?
Often those partnerships you think won’t work turn out to be the best ones. People’s differences can complement each other and that can be interesting. I think their differences complement each other rather than pushing them further away. Her ambition and cheekiness bring out more of a spine in Daniel almost. He’s been very dutiful over the last few years and he needs a bit of fun in his life, a bit of excitement and Daisy certainly brings that..
With these stories you’re working with a whole host of new people, how does that feel?
It’s great, I mean I was a bit devastated to discover I’m not in the young ones category anymore, but it’s good, it’s interesting to play with different actors, I’m really enjoying the new dynamics.
Are you enjoying being back in work more, how have you found the last 18 months with lockdown living on your own?
I stayed mostly on my own, other than when a friend who’d been stuck in Peru who came to stay with me for a few weeks. I was OK, I’m quite an introvert, I like my own company but towards the end even I was bored. You start to need contact with people, I really feel for all the extroverts in this who get their mental recharge from being around other people. Luckily I like to recharge by being by myself so it wasn’t too bad.
Glenda Young
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor
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1 comment:
Amazing that there just happened to be a vacancy for an English teacher at Weathy Comp for Daniel.
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