ALISON KING, TINA O'BRIEN AND LUCY FALLON TALK ABOUT WHAT IT'S LIKE TO WORK ON CORONATION STREET

With some of the females of the Coronation Street set to take centre stage this month, Tina O'Brien, Lucy Fallon and Alison King talk about what's to come for their characters as well as what it is like to work on the Manchester based soap.

When asked about what it's like to work on the show, Alison King said: "The people, everyone must have said that! Our team is a family, my brothers and sisters are here really, people may come and go but they always remain. I've made so many friends it’s a dream really. It's definitely the people and obviously as an actor getting to play something different every day and practice my art, that is incredible for me."

Carla has many different sides, but when asked about what is it about her that you love to play? "I like playing all Carla Connor’s unexpected, varied sides. She's got so many sides to her and I think she tries to grow as a person but ultimately her core is fiery and fearless. She is vulnerable, she can be frightened of things but she attacks things face on which ultimately gives me brilliant storylines because she either gets into trouble or she does the right thing. The viewers understand that she's going to go off the rails, but she'll come back again. It's just been such a lovely thing to be able to get to play, all those vulnerable situations with the psychosis, through her addiction and the grief she’s had to deal with, but to be able to show those from a strong woman's perspective has been brilliant. Going out to those places but then being able to come back to the core of her somewhat damaged soul. I love being able to show that journey and that though she makes mistakes she's ultimately a good soul."

Photo Credit: ITV/ Coronation Street

Lucy Fallon spoke about what drew her back to the show after 3 years away: "I think it’s the friendships and how closely you work with people. I’ve only been back for seven months but I know every single part of Tina’s life and she knows every single part of mine because we work so closely with each other. You just become so intertwined in people’s lives and I just love that kind of relationship because I feel really lucky to get that at work."

With females taking centre stage, Lucy commented about who she shares a special bond with "Definitely Tina, we have such a close bond from working together over the years. I’ve made so many special friendships at Corrie but I do also have really close friendships with Channique and Charlie which is lovely."

When asked about are you enjoying seeing Bethany develop into a strong women: "Corrie is filled with strong female characters, not even the characters but the women behind the characters, and the women behind the scenes. I feel like it’s a privilege to work alongside them and hopefully Bethany is also following in those footsteps."

With Tina O'Brien having played Sarah Platt for the past 25 years do you still enjoy it as much as you did all those years ago, she said: "Wow, 25 years, that’s a big old question and it’s an interesting one, she was a 13 year old girl then and she’s a nearly 40 year old woman now. But yes I do, I love the job I do, I love the storylines I get to play, I don't always agree with her choices but I rethink that’s good, it makes it more interesting."

When talking about her favourite time of the year, Tina added: "I really loved my very first storyline, the teenage pregnancy storyline, that’s hard to beat just because of the age I was, the opportunity to play out a teen pregnancy and how much the story blew up. But I’ve also really loved all the affair stuff recently, I’ve loved the dynamic of that and playing her so torn between her head and her heart."

How does it feel being a Platt family icon? "I feel so so lucky and honoured to be in the Platt family, it’s like waking up and realising you’re winning at life every day. In a soap there’s something about being a part of a long serving family which makes you really proud. I am just in awe of Helen and Sue, they’re such great actresses but they’re also really kind and giving and I think that sets a precedent about how the rest of the Platt's behave on set. It all trickles down, there’s a lot of respect on set, there’s a lot of hard work but we also all have a laugh as well. There’s always a great energy and they’re just a great bunch of people to work with. I feel really honoured and very proud to be a Platt."

When asked about making great friends and female role models over the years, Tina commented: "It sounds like a cliche but it’s just such a lovely place to work, with the women on this shoot today there’s never anything but support, it’s a gorgeous environment to work in. We all play very different characters but when we’re all in the green room we’re all just a bunch of women chatting about our lives. We’re very lucky that we all get on really well. I can have some really deep chats or just be having a laugh, we’re always messaging each other, we’re part of a really lucky little club where we all get each other and support each other."

Coronation Street airs on ITV1 Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 8pm.