Interview with Katherine Kelly

Coronation Street's Becky Granger - played by Katherine Kelly - runs riot next week when her boyfriend Jason Grimshaw (Ryan Thomas) dumps her in the hope of reuiniting with his estranged wife, Sarah Platt (Tina O'Brien). The loved-up pair are in the midst of setting up their new home when Jason drops the bombshell on her. Enraged, Becky attacks Jason in the Weatherfield watering hole, before flashing her boobs, smashing a shop window and ultimately a police car's windscreen. Here, Katherine chats to DS about her character and what it was like filming her rampage scenes.

Becky's really excited to be setting up home with Jason, isn't she?
"Yeah – it's all her dreams come true. When she first arrived on the Street, she was homeless – that was the only definition of Becky I got when I originally landed the part. To go from the old fingerless gloves to setting up a flat with Jason, the fittest guy on the Street, it's the best life has ever been for her."

Does she truly love him?
"She absolutely believes that she's 100% in love with him. I see it as a very teenage relationship because of the on-off status. Becky's very mature in many ways - she's very streetwise and if you needed something, you'd go to Becky and she'd find it for you. But emotionally, she's very immature. That's a lot to do with why she gets on so well with Roy because he's quite emotionally immature, too. It's probably the one level that they do connect on."

What happens between Becky and Jason for her to flip out?
"Michelle overhears a conversation between David and Amber in the corner shop and they're talking about Sarah returning to the Street. Michelle really makes Jason feel bad about it, prompting him to come clean with Becky. It's a real shocker for Becky. She always thought she was second best and Jason confirms it."

Why does she end up attacking Jason in the Rovers?
"When Jason tells Becky about Sarah, she holds it together quite well – it's quite strange for Becky, really. I think Jason finds it quite odd, too. After kicking him out of the flat, she's absolutely wired but goes to The Rovers for her shift. It's when she starts drinking the snakebite that she starts to lose it. Jason wanders into the pub wanting to apologise. At that point, Becky asks him whether she was just keeping the bed warm for Sarah and he pretty much says 'yes'. That's when she vaults over the bar, grabs him by the throat and drags him to the ground."

What was it like filming the scenes in the bar?
"It was great. They're highly technical scenes, though, so they're not as fun as you'd think. You've got to be focused as quite a bit can go wrong. To be honest, though, a lot of the pressure was on Ryan [Thomas]. I had to get myself over the bar, but once I'd got him by the throat, he had to carry me to the floor. It doesn't look like it, but he's the one having to do a lot of the work!

"I was black and blue by the end of it, though! Obviously there's the final take [which they use for the episode], but there were six rehearsals and two takes that didn't go quite right. So my legs were just black from it!"

What happens after she's thrown out of The Rovers?
"Afterwards, she just goes into self-destruct and goes out onto the streets of Manchester, drinking cider. She ends up stealing a purse, flashing her boobs, smashing a shop window and a windscreen of a police car…"

There's a touching scene with Becky and Roy where, despite the fact she's drunk, she tells Roy she loves him…
"It said in the script that Becky would fight back the tears when Jason left the flat after coming clean with her about Sarah. But I decided that Becky shouldn't cry or get upset about anything until she sees Roy. She lets it all out with Roy. I didn't expect the bit where Becky tells Roy that she loves him to be as poignant as it turned out."

That last bit about Becky and Roy, I'm filling up just reading it . Roy's such an oddball and Becky's a loner too but it's life that's made them that way, not choice.

It was inspirational for the writers to team Roy and Becky together. They are so opposite, but the relationship works because of it rather than in spite of it.

I love to see them bicker yet they stand up for each other too. It's such a brilliant antidote against the rather more trite parts of Corrie, like that idiot Rosie with her hardly-there clothes or Liam and Carla eyeing each other up. Roy and Becky are so "unattractive" compared to those three yet far more real and far more likeable I think.