Toyah and Imran Heading For Disaster? Corrie Blog Interviews Georgia Taylor

This next week is a BIG SOAP WEEK for Coronation Street, the Imran / Abi / Kev / Toyah storyline is coming to an explosive conclusion that promises repercussions for several residents of the street. On May the 5th, I joined a Corrie press day to chat with Georgia Taylor, who plays Toyah, to learn more about it! 

I won't give away any big reveal in this interview, but we do learn a bit more about Spider Nugent's return, and more details on what promises to be a massive week in Weatherfield! Coronation Street is slipping back into the 7.30 pm slot for this special week, so we have an episode every night to look forward to!

Corrie is also promising flashbacks, flashforwards, and a lot of foreboding as things begin to spin out of control for two of the show's most prominent couples. 

Read on to learn more about it;

  

Hi Georgia! Can we just start by talking about the build-up to this very big week? Toyah is oblivious to the lengths that Imran has been going to. Would you say she’s been burying her head in the sand with it all? 

Yes, I think that has been a part of it. I think she's become quite single-minded in what her aims are. She aims to form this ''perfect family’’ with her and Imran, and there's the possibility of them getting Elsie back. I think she definitely may have niggling doubts about how this has all come to pass and his behaviour over the last few months.

Does she love Imran? or does she love the idea of the life that they could have? 

I think it's both. Charlie (De Melo, Imran Habeeb) and I had a lot of zoom meetings with Iain (Macleod - exec producer) to work out exactly how we were going to pitch this and what our character’s motivations were. When Toyah found out Imran had slept with someone else, she was devastated and heartbroken, because she loves him, but tried to see through that and forgave him. However, that was before she found out about Abi and Alfie. The love is there but you can just switch that off. However, is she steam-rolling ahead to try and get the results of this end-game? Absolutely! If Alfie wasn't on the table, so to speak, I think they would have had a shot of marriage. She would have asked them to take a step back and probably attend couples counselling, knowing Toyah, but in the end, she does still love him, so I think it's both 

Toyah agrees to let Abi take Alfie out for the day. Wasn't that risky? What's the motivation behind that decision? 

Yes, she knew it was risky, I think she has overwhelming guilt and feels sympathy for Abi. She sees how hard Abi is trying to change her life, so yeah there is a little niggle of thinking if it's a good idea but she sees Abi being heartfelt and genuine, and doesn't see the harm in letting a mother spend time with her baby.

Does Toyah think that maybe shared custody would be the best outcome for the three of them? 

Yes, they could share custody so that Alfie is part of Abi’s life, and she could be his stepmom without feeling any guilt about taking a baby away from its mother, which is what her conscience is wrestling with. Imran is also quite single-minded and wants the baby for himself, so the couple isn't exactly on the same level when it comes to this, causing tension between the two of them

Toyah does appear to have softened since her early days in the Battersby clan. What do you think changed her character from then until now? 

Going way back, she was always the more gentle one of the Battersby clan, so we had some shades of that early on, But for me, I think the last ten years of her life have been dominated by this quest of wanting to be a Mother. When I / Toyah was off-screen, she was battling infertility and going through battles with IVF. We shouldn't underestimate the emotional turmoil this would have had on an individual and I think she's emotionally scarred by that. 

Can you talk to us about what happens this week, in the build-up to big soap week? Does it seem that Imran suddenly finds a conscience from somewhere and confesses to Toyah? 

Well, at this point, Toyah still doesn't know that Imran and Ben lied in court. She thinks they genuinely saw Abi doing a drug deal, and that's what happened, and yet Imran has carried the weight of this, whilst Toyah has been so caring and kind to Abi. He's not a villain as such, he's just made a bunch of bad decisions and ultimately decides to come clean to Toyah. Abi has a plot to kidnap Alfie and when Toyah finds out, she wants to go to the police. Imran then has to battle Toyah to stop her from going to the police, which starts a whole chain of events that leads up to this incredibly dramatic week, resulting in a car crash. 

What was it like filming those scenes, trapped in the car with Imran, and how does it feel to be involved in such a big week? It has flashbacks, flash-forwards, and its very own promo video! 

It was amazing. We had a whole week on location, we had stunt doubles, a corrie team, a stunt team, and a brilliant director. We had stunts, and drones, and felt like we were doing our own little film for a week. We were doing lengthy scenes where I was driving with a low-loader, driving past Manchester tram stops, and people were looking at us, but then they got used to it. We had an ambitious schedule but got through it. It was such a privilege!

How easy do you find it to switch off when you've filmed such dramatic scenes?    I don't feel like I'm carrying emotional baggage when I get home, I just feel physically tired. There are long days and you put your body through emotional trauma, and your heart is racing - your body thinks it's real and not acting! A lot of the stuff we did was quite physical too. It's just about being involved in it all and making sure you get to bed early, eat well, rest -up, all that boring stuff, just to make sure you enjoy it.  

Thank you, Georgia. We’ve one last question, and we must(!) ask you this. How did you feel when you found out that Spider Nugent was coming back into Toyah’s life? 

I was shocked but it does make sense. I know a lot of our stuff has been on classic corrie recently, and I get tweets all the time from people saying ‘bring back spider’ and people love that character and the both of us together. When the news was announced, the reaction was phenomenal! It will be a shift, working with one person for several years, and then suddenly working with someone else with, different energy. Luckily we do have history, and it was a long time ago, but he came into Corrie last week to have his costume fitted, and even after all of these years, it just felt natural and normal. I'm very lucky and he's such a joy to work with.  

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So now you know. Toyah and Imran are involved in a car accident with serious repercussions for all concerned!! As a big fan of Georgia Taylor, I just hope Toyah escapes unscathed?!? 

Coronation Street is giving nothing away...

Keep your eyes on this blog for more cast interviews, backstage gossip, episode reviews, and storyline previews! 

I am @rybazoxo Cobbles connoisseur and Coronation Street superfan. 

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