INTERVIEW WITH SYDNEY MARTIN AS SHE TALKS SWARLA AND PLAYING BETSY

Since Sydney Martin joined Coronation Street last year, her character Betsy Swain has become a favourite with viewers to the Weatherfield based soap.

During next week's visit to Weatherfield, the young character is set for big week as she discovers some things that her mum, DS Lisa Swain has been hiding from her, and Betsy goes to look for answers as Sydney Martin opens up about what's to come and what it's like playing Betsy.

When asked about how Betsy feels as her mum, Lisa Swain and Carla Connor grow closer, is Betsy accepting Carla's in for the long haul, Sydney Martin added “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 finally 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.”

Lisa has been struggling after Craig Tinker's death, but next week her behaviour becomes erratic and Betsy catches her going through old files, does this arouse suspicion from Betsy, Sydney commented “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.”

Lisa tries to fob Betsy off about her paternity that she doesn't want 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.”

Photo Credit: ITV/ Coronation Street

With you having been on the show for a year now, how do you enjoy playing Betsy commenting “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!”

When asked about working with Cait Fitton more, what's it like seeing the friendship develop between Betsy and Lauren, Sydney said “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.” Before continuing “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.”

Coronation Street airs Monday, Wednesday and Friday's at 8pm on ITV with episodes available from 7am on ITVX.