Coronation Street Blog: Harriet Bibby interview: Summer falls for Daniel

Prior to this week, what is Summer’s impression of Daniel?

Like everyone on Coronation Street, they know of each other because everyone knows everyone on that street in a certain way. They are neighbours and they have a mutual respect for one another and because Daniel applied for Oxford, they are on the same wavelength. But in terms of interactions, they haven't really spoken much. Summer is friends with Amy Barlow who is related to Daniel but that’s about it.

What is Summer’s ultimate dream?

Summer knows she is capable of doing great things, she knows she is smart and can go on to do whatever she wants to do but she stresses out quite easily so on that journey to achieving things, it doesn’t feel easy for her and she tries really, really hard. Her ultimate dream is to get into Oxford and see what she can do after leaving Weatherfield.

What is the moment that Summer realises she is quite smitten with Daniel?

Summer realises that she is enjoying spending her time with Daniel more than she is enjoying spending her time with Aadi. Obviously Aadi has his own things he is going through at the moment but Summer realises that Daniel is a bit more mature, he is interested in all the same things that she is interested in especially literature-wise. Daniel is an English teacher and Summer wants to study English so she would rather spend her time with Daniel talking about Oxford, life dreams and literature compared to Aadi who is in a bit of a pit at the minute.

Would you describe Summer’s admiration for Daniel as a crush or something more serious for her?

Summer isn’t daft and she understands that nothing will happen now but it develops into this idea that maybe in the future, when she’s older, they could end up together.

Summer has her own admirer in Max, is she aware of his feelings?

No, she is very naive to Max’s feelings just as much as Daniel is niaive to Summer’s crush! She wants to tutor Max to look good on her application to Oxford so when she is with Max it’s very professional, she isn’t concerned with the interaction between them. Max moons after her when she isn’t really looking.

What happens when she overhears Daniel and Adam talking and she mistakenly thinks they are talking about her?

Summer overhears the last part of their conversation where Adam is warning Daniel that a certain relationship isn’t right. Daniel says he doesn’t care and Summer automatically thinks that it’s her. Summer gets over excited and when she hears that, she feels that it’s not a schoolgirl crush anymore, it’s real. She thinks that Daniel feels something for her too. This is the moment that she gets carried away.

What’s Summer’s first thoughts when she realises that Daniel likes Daisy?

She is heartbroken, she had a plan in her mind of how this night was going to go. She spotted the Importance of Being Earnest tickets and she thought she was going to the show with him, she thought she was going to have a really nice night. As soon as she realises that the tickets are not for her, and not only are the tickets not for her, she has just seen another stunning girl going up into Daniel’s flat, she just feels in the dumps and doesn’t know what to do with herself.

If you were Summer’s friend, what advice would you give her?

I would say, ‘Come back to earth!’ I would advise her to be realistic and I would say that this is probably a fantasy that she has got herself swept up in. She needs to think about it logically, she is a smart girl, is this really beneficial for her? What is the outcome going to be? It’s probably going to be Summer getting hurt.

Glenda Young

Novelist published by Headline