Coronation Street Blog: Sydney Martin interview: Betsey opens a Pandora's box of trouble

Tuesday, 3 June 2025

Sydney Martin interview: Betsey opens a Pandora's box of trouble

How is Betsy feeling as Lisa and Carla grow closer and closer, has she started to accept that Carla’s in her life for the long haul?

I think there’s some resistance, they still have this bickering, but she has a lot of love for Carla now and they’re starting to have that step mum/step daughter relationship. She can see that her mum is happy and that makes her happy. It’s taken her a long time but she’s finely starting to feel like this is her new home. So although there is a bit of bickering there’s a nice dynamic developing between them.

We’ve seen Lisa struggling after Craig’s death, her behaviour has been a bit erratic and then Betsy catches her going through these old files. Does this arouse some suspicion in Betsy?

Lisa’s looking through these boxes and Betsy being Betsy is just being nosy and wants to know what’s in them. But as she goes to grab one of the boxes, Lisa’s very on edge. She can be like that, very stressed and job focussed but it makes Betsy question what’s so special in this particular box. Their relationship has often been based around lies, there’s a lot of times her mum has lied to protect her but Betsy just wants to be treated like an adult now. If snooping in these boxes means she can find out something that her mum’s not going to tell her otherwise then that’s what she's going to do.

When she gets this very extreme reaction from Lisa about this box, what does that stir in Betsy, is she going to try to find out more?

She’s going to have a nosey, come on it’s Betsy! She finds out something about her other mum Becky who died that leaves her wanting to find out more. It seems there were certain things she didn’t know about her other mum and again that stems a bit of resentment in Betsy towards Lisa because it means she’s been keeping stuff from her, that she’s still treating her like a kid and that frustrates Betsy.

Lisa tries to fob her off that it contains details about her paternity that she doesn’t want her to see till she’s 18, does Betsy buy that?

There’s a really nice scene where we see that paternity doesn’t matter to Betsy. When you see two women in a relationship there’s often a big deal about who’s the dad. But their family dynamic isn't about that, her parents are her mums, it was just a sperm donor, that doesn’t mean anything to Betsy. So when Lisa tries to fob her off saying the box contains her paternity results, Betsy knows it's something neither of them really care about so she’s going to dig deeper. Betsy’s smart, this intrigues her, she knows there’s something else and she’s going to dig deeper to find it.

After uncovering this bit of information about Becky, Betsy and Lauren decide to go to the prison. Who are they visiting and why?

We’re seeing a nice relationship develop between Betsy and Lauren, so she’s her first port of call when she needs help. They’re going to visit Logan, who they know was involved with the death of both Becky and Mason, so it’s a big deal but Lauren naively thinks she can handle it. The plan is to ask questions about the night Becky died and get more of an insight into what happened but at the end of the day Logan is in prison for a reason, he’s not a very nice guy and she’s probably going to have to deal with the repercussions.

Sometimes Becky can be streetwise, sometimes she’s niaive, do you think she doesn’t realise how dangerous Logan is?

Yeah, I think because she’s always been aware of this criminal world due to her mum’s work, which you think would give her some insight, it’s also enabled a naivety because it’s been so accessible to her from such a young age. You would think she’d have some understanding but I think she doesn’t realise how scary and real these situations can be because she’s always been exposed, it’s almost second nature, but then she doesn’t think about the repercussions. This is a very dangerous man, but in her head she thinks he’ll just give her the answers, my mum can do this job so why can’t I. At some point there’s going to be repercussions for her actions.

Does Betsy get the answers she’s looking for or has she opened a box that maybe should have stayed closed?

She’s definitely opened a box that should have stayed closed. Someone in prison, convicted of attacking their own brother, is not going to help her, especially not for free. He will want something out of it and she’s making deals with the devil.

How do you think her mum is going to react when she finds out she’s gone and done this?

She’ll be absolutely fuming, nothing will surprise her because Betsy seems to think the law doesn’t apply to her. Although it always comes from a place of love, Betsy is just trying to heal a part of her that never healed and find answers that she never got. All she wants from her mum is for her to just tell her the truth, if they could just sit down and talk maybe we wouldn’t be here. At times they're like two children, but now Betsy needs to act like an adult and Lisa’s got to start treating her like an adult. When they actually both listen to each other then there’ll be a resolution but otherwise they’re always going to end up in these situations.

You’ve been here for a year now, how much do you enjoy paying Betsy?

I love her, I love being here and I’m so protective of Betsy Swain. She’s such a nuanced character, on the surface people see this gobby, reckless teen but underneath it she’s so complicated and vulnerable. There are so many layers to her and that’s what makes her interesting to play. She tries to come across all tough but she’s vulnerable and underneath it all she’s just a child. She may try to act all grown up to fit in but she’s gone through a lot and deep down she’s just this baby who needs her mum and this approval from people around her. I’m so lucky that the storylines are allowing me to explore this troubled but lovable character. And getting to play the baddie sometimes is fun!

And are you enjoying getting to work with Cait more now as we see the friendship developing between Betsy and Lauren?

We have so much fun on set because we’re such great friends off set and I think when you have that natural chemistry is real life it really does translate to screen. We were determined to make it fun from the start, they both have some quite heavy stories individually so when they come together it’s a bit of light relief for both of them. They’re both still young and teenagers have fun. Yes they're moody and they cause issues but they’re still experiencing things for the first time. There's this older sister dynamic from Lauren, and that’s lovely for Betsy as she's never had that. Coronation Street is built on friendships so the more connections you have the more fun it is to play so we have a laugh and if we can bring some comedy to a scene we will.

Glenda Young

Bestselling novelist published by Headline