How is Leanne feeling about life right now, with Rowan and the institute becoming such a big part of it?
In lots of ways she's very positive about life. The Institute really has made her change her mindset and has made her look at life in a different way and approach things differently to how she has done in the past, but by doing this she’s caused a lot of problems in different areas of her life. So, even though she feels positive, she’s kind of caught in negative outcomes by what she’s doing.
We’ve seen it drawing a bit of a wedge between Nick and Leanne, do you think it could eventually threaten their relationship?
Oh it definitely could! I think Leanne is pushing people away without actually realising she’s doing it and is being very self absorbed. I don’t think Leanne see’s the bigger picture of everything because certain behaviours are making her distance herself - which is the total opposite of what she’s actually trying to achieve. Leanne’s new mindset is all about being positive and manifesting but what she’s doing is totally alienating herself leaving everyone thinking that she’s going crackers!
Why do you think Leanne is so keen to fully invest herself in the institute? What is she/has she been missing?
Historically, Leanne doesn’t really think about things and jumps into the deep end but for the first time in her life, she's stopped doing this. On this occasion, she’s almost taken a step back and because of the certain traumas that have happened in her life, such as losing Oliver, it’s made her re-evaluate things and she’s not being quite as quick in her decision making as what she once was. It’s almost as if Leanne has had a change of personality overnight!
Nick and Toyah have started to express their concerns over her involvement with the institute, should they be worried?
What’s really interesting playing this storyline out is that there are some things that happen that actually make you understand why Leanne is getting sucked into this. The Institute is all about positivity, bringing good energy and just being a good person but I think she’s taken it all a little bit too far. Usually Leanne is a strong character who wouldn’t typically make these types of decisions, but for whatever part of her life, she’s decided to go against time and behave differently which is of course going to give Toyah and Nick a cause for concern and start pushing them away.
The writers always seem to come up with new directions for Leanne, are you enjoying playing this as it’s a very current topic?
It’s funny because when they first told me about the storyline, I wasn’t entirely sure about it and thought it may be a bit too tricky but I’m absolutely loving it. In some ways it is tricky because of the way Leanne is now speaking completely different to how she normally would and the language she’s now using. But what is interesting for me as an actor is exploring her from a completely different way of thinking and also it’s fun because Leanne is absolutely oblivious to all of the damage she is causing by some of her behaviours. Historically, Leanne is quite a strong person with her own opinions, but in this case she is listening to someone else and is essentially getting brainwashed into their way of thinking, which for me is really fun to play.
There’s so much history with the Battersbys, Toyah, the Barlows, Nick do you enjoy having that to draw on?
It’s amazing! Over the years we have all worked together so closely and as an actor, you have periods where you work with certain characters more than others. Obviously Georgia and I have worked together for the majority of our lives, certainly all of our adult lives, so we know each other really well and we are best friends. Although we have our own friendship, we’ve also built a relationship over the years as sisters on screen and we have a shared history with the rest of the family, going back to the 90s! It’s so lovely because we have that extra layer that we can add to our stories through our own friendships and history.
What does it mean to you to be working on the show after 27 years and being such an iconic female character?
When I say that out loud it feels weird because I realise that’s a very, very long time! When I was a kid, I remember watching the likes of Bet Lynch who had been in the show for around 20 years and those kind of characters to me were the real icons and were who I admired. For Leanne to be considered as an iconic character is thrilling and it makes me feel so proud that I’ve been here for such a long period of time and that I’ve been lucky enough to have all of these wonderful stories. It’s also great that after all of this time, the writers are still investing in Leanne as a character which is an honour.
What’s it been like growing up around lots of the other actresses throughout your time, would you say you’d made friends for life?
I absolutely have made friends for life. As I mentioned before, Georgia is my best friend and I’ve been so lucky to work so closely with her over the years. I’ve also known Samia since I was 10 as we went to the same drama workshop together. Lots of us have actually known each other previous to Corrie, so we’ve all done life and grown up together which has been lovely. We’ve been through the nice things in life such as having babies and getting married to the tougher times like losing parents. We’ve also all got this shared experience of being on this very popular TV show, so all the pressures that come with that are made so much easier with the support from each other. I know it’s a massive cliche to say we’re like one big family, but honestly, it really is because we spend so much time together and we genuinely care about each other.
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