Coronation Street's Tina O'Brien understands why co-star Lucy Fallon quit the show
"It's very different when you're out of the Corrie bubble"
Coronation Street star Lucy Fallon will bid farewell to the cobbles in early 2020 after five years as troubled teenager Bethany Platt, and screen mum Tina O'Brien, aka Sarah Platt, has spoken out about saying goodbye to her co-star.
"Selfishly I don't want Lucy to go," she told RadioTimes.com. "I love her and am genuinely going to miss her, but I completely understand that has to and it's the best thing she could do for herself.
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"There are other things she wants to do, she's young, beautiful and talented and I really hope she flies. But I'm in denial about filming that last scene with her when it comes!"
O'Brien also sees parallels with her fictional daughter's career path, as she left the show back in 2007 to pursue other projects having joined the cast in 1999 when she was just 16. She returned to the cast full-time in 2015.
"Weirdly I left when I was 24 and Lucy has just turned 25, so the circumstances are similar. For me personally leaving when I did was the best thing because I did feel like I was in a bit of a bubble. It's a great place toward but I didn't know anything else, so it was good to be a jobbing actor for a while.
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"I have tried to explain to Lucy how different it is outside of the Corrie bubble," she continues. "The thing I found difficult was realising just how much content we film, no other job creates that amount of work but you're so used to that pace. You can watch someone in a film but they might have only been on set for a few days!"
In typically excellent Corrie casting, the resemblance between the actresses is striking making them a very believable mother and daughter - to the point where O'Brien observes they're turning into the same person…
"We are very alike. We've now got to the point where we say the same things at exactly the same time on set. The pair of us are always doing daft things!"
Fallon's exit is expected to be on screen in the next few months, following the announcement in May 2019 she had chosen to leave at the end of her current contract. She garnered praise for her performance during Bethany's controversial grooming and sexual exploitation storyline, and the character is currently gripped by a doomed crush on widower Daniel Osbourne.
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