Coronation Street star: Leanne Battersby is terrified, and she’s just trying to do her best

Played by Bury-born Jane Danson, she was a troubled teenager who was dubbed a neighbour from hell, along with dad Les, mum Janice and sister Toyah, when they arrived on the cobbles.

“I know by reading comments on social media that people’s opinions are split – they either love her or they hate her, and I understand that completely!” quips Danson, 42.

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She has been through a lot over the years – prostitution, drug abuse and, most recently, losing son Oliver to Mitochondrial disease – and remains one of the ITV soap’s most recognisable faces.

Leanne’s decisions may be questionable at times, but Danson loves that the writers stay true to her character’s “inner Battersby”.

“Even though she’s grown up and she’s a lot more sensible than she used to be, the writers have always remembered where she’s from, and I’m really keen to keep hold of that.”

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Leanne will always have that fight in her that she had as a kid, adds the star, and she’s certainly needed it recently, as she’s come up against drugs lord Harvey (Will Mellor).

After her teenage son Simon (Alex Bain) managed to get dragged into Harvey’s dangerous world, she stepped in to try to protect him.

The dramatic ordeal has seen her dealing drugs for Harvey, acting as a police informant, and then having to go into hiding.

Harvey is now behind bars and, in the coming episodes, his trial is approaching – so the pressure around testifying has somewhat ramped up.

The lives of people around her have been put at risk: Sharon (Tracie Bennett) – who it was revealed is Harvey’s aunt, had a sinister agenda – and Sam (Jude Riordan), who’s the son of her on-off beau Nick (Ben Price), was kidnapped. At one point, there were even gunshots on the street… Has all this drama changed Leanne’s mind about wanting to tell all in court, or does it make her more determined to go through with it and destroy Harvey?

“When we see the scenes with the gunman, you’ll see a real shift in how she feels about it. I think she’s of the opinion that this is never going to end; unless she stops it now, this is going to keep going on – it will just be one more thing, then another and another.

“But she is terrified, and she’s just trying to do her best – and she doesn’t really know whether telling the truth or lying is the best thing or not. So, I suppose it will be how she feels on the day.”

Simon’s safety has always been Leanne’s priority, sometimes to the detriment of her relationship with Nick – at one point, she was prepared to let her relationship with him go.

“She tried to protect Nick and not tell him anything and, in doing so, she kind of alienated herself and became a little bit distant and he didn’t know why,” explains Danson.

“And then, eventually, when he found out what was going on, he had to make that awful choice of being with his son who he newly discovered, or supporting Leanne, who had just been through this awful journey with Oliver. So, in terms of story layers, there’s loads to explore there, which has been really good.”

Leanne and Nick were first together in late 1997 (originally he was played by Adam Rickitt). And Danson has recently been finding herself feeling quite nostalgic about their early relationship.

“I’ve been dipping into the old classic Corries that are on ITV3 at the minute, on the odd afternoon I’ve had off, and Nick and Leanne are very prominent at that time,” she says.

“We’ve gone back and forth over the years; they’ve got back together, they’ve been off with other people. But Ben and I love working together, we’ve got a great working relationship, and we really trust each other – it’s just lovely. So, we campaign constantly for them to be together, just because we like working together, and it makes our days nice.”

Danson – who has two sons with her husband, Hollyoaks actor Robert Beck – also really enjoys being an on-screen parent.

Not only are there her scenes with Bain, but she’s also getting to work a lot with Riordan.

“Alex and I have had some cracking scenes over the years, we’ve had lots of different storylines together,” she gushes. “And now seeing him challenged with different things and carrying a lot of the scenes, he’s really developing as an actor – and it’s lovely to see, because it’s almost like looking at yourself years ago, when people helped you.

“And little Jude is just delightful. He’s just a joy to be around, and it’s lovely seeing that innocence.”

It’s been an intense 12 months for Leanne, to say the least. And there’s been the additional challenge of filming during Covid-19, and the cast and crew having to be two metres apart.

With the Oliver storyline, “the distance lent itself to the way Leanne was feeling, because she was pushing everybody away”, Danson explains.

“With this storyline with Harvey, he was asking her politely to get in the car, whereas on an ordinary day, he would have thrown her in the car and it would have been much more physical. Maybe the scenes would have played out a little bit differently, but I think the audience understand that there’s some things we can’t do, because we’re just not allowed.

“It is frustrating, because your natural instinct as an actor is to go forward and hug somebody or touch somebody or hold someone’s hand or fight with them, whatever it is, and that is really, really tough at times.

“Because of the Oliver storyline, we got used to it. But obviously, it’s not ideal and we’re hopeful that things may change in the coming months, with a bit of luck, for the world.”

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