Coronation Street Blog: Mollie Gallagher interview: Nina in danger when Roy's bat hunt turns deadly

How would you describe Roy and Nina’s relationship?

They are very close and they both are constantly looking out for each other and just want the best for each other. They are very similar in many ways, they are quite quirky and they find it hard to show their feelings and tend to hide things from each other, often to try and protect the other person. That then comes across as a lack of understanding and can cause problems as we see this week with the mobile phone.

They are all going to a bat hunt so how does Roy end up in the woods on his own?

Roy is taking Evelyn to a friend's house and meeting Nina, Asha and Brian there but they get a message that it has been cancelled and of course because Roy has given away his mobile phone that he got from Nina for christmas they don’t have any way of contacting him. They head to the woods to try and find him but he is nowhere to be found and then Nina sees his thermos flask in the river.

So what are Nina’s first thoughts when she sees Roy’s thermos flask in the water.

Nina is such an anxious person since the attack on Seb and she is terrified of something happening to people she loves. That fear is always there. It's not completely gone. She's just a lot more easily triggered by things. I think her brain immediately jumps to the conclusion that something bad has happened. I don't think that's gone away. Whereas I think in the past she would have stopped to look at the situation more calmly and rationally and realised that he has probably just dropped it, she freaks out completely and goes down the slippy bank of the river believing something terrible has happened to Roy.

How much danger is Nina in because we see that she she knocks her head and she knocks herself unconscious?

Everyone is really worried about her as she has already had a brain injury and she is knocked out cold and has to be dragged out of the river. No one knows how serious it is, she has knocked herself out but also she has been in freezing cold water. Brian and Asha are doing as much as they can but it is terrifying for them.

You filmed the scenes on location. So what was that like to film?

It was really good to be on location. I love being on location and I love night shoots as well. I'm a night owl so that doesn't bother me but I don't think I had realised how cold the water would be. I knew it was cold water but it was a lot colder. First I thought, Oh my God, I've only got my feet at this moment and I’m already freezing cold. I had so many hot showers when I got home after lying in that muddy cold river.

Did you have like a stunt coordinator?

We had a Nina stunt double and she did the fall into the river. When I was in the water, it was just to knock my head and be dragged out. So it wasn't as obviously intense as what she did. It was actually fun watching that. But the worst part about being in the water was the fish! I was actually freaking out at the fish swimming around me. The crew were laughing saying you are lying in muddy cold water and it's the fish that are bothering you! They were cute but just not something I expected!

Do you prefer these action packed scenes or do you prefer when Nina has a bit more happiness?

I do love the drama and the action scenes but I am lucky that I also get the light hearted fun stuff with Nina. I like it when Nina's happy because she has a lot more interaction with people and I think that that is my favourite side of Nina, sarcastic Nina and witty Nina. So it's kind of both in different ways. I like the action packed stuff because it was fun and it's a bit different. But my favourite side of Nina will always be sarcastic fiery fun Nina really.

It’s a really bad start to the year for Nina but you've got loads to look forward to in 2023 and obviously Dancing On Ice. So how is that going at the moment?

Great. I absolutely love it so much. That doesn't mean I'm great but I'm quite proud of how I'm doing at the minute. You know, I’m not as bad as I thought I would be. So, it just goes to show when you throw yourself into something you can actually achieve whatever you want out of it really. I can’t wait for it to start now.

Glenda Young

Novelist published by Headline