TV legend Sarah Lancashire got her big break as Raquel Watts in Coronation Street back in the early 90s, but says she couldn’t go to the ITV soap back now
Sarah Lancashire has revealed the real reason she would never return to Coronation Street, the show that kickstarted her impressive career.
The Happy Valley star got her big break when she was cast as high-voiced Raquel Watts in the ITV soap back in 1991. She stayed on the show for four years, returning for a one-off episode in 2000.
Describing working on the show, which films five days a week, the award-winning actress – who bagged two gongs at the National Television Awards earlier this week, including this year’s Special Recognition award – called the soap “one of the best training schools in the world.” She revealed she was “very proud” of her four years working in Corrie and said she was “terribly lucky” to work with such extraordinary people. But, when asked if she would ever go back now the TV legend said she wouldn’t.
“It’s very clear why I would never go back because the show evolves, decade by decade. When people say ‘I was in Coronation Street’, you think, ‘Well, which one?’ Was it the 60s, the 70s, the 80s? They all have a defining quality,” Sarah said. “I know when I was there in the 90s it was very specific to that time and that place, with a voice for writers who were just absolutely brilliant. Heavens, my character would be so old now – too old for short skirts!”
In an interview with The Sun at the National Televison Awards on Tuesday night at London’s O2 Arena, Sarah continued: “So no [she wouldn’t go back to Corrie], but you can walk away from it and leave it there, because you never really leave the characters.” Explaining what she meant, Sarah said she believes that characters “take up residence within you… so you don’t fully move on from them”. She added: “I always believe characters choose you, it’s really not the other way round.”
Sarah was the star of the NTAs on Tuesday after winning Best Drama Performance for her portrayal of police officer Catherine Cawood in Happy Valley. The BBC crime drama also scooped Best Returning Drama and Sarah was honoured with this year’s Special Recognition Award.
Fans are used to seeing Sarah speaking in a Yorkshire accent on screen, so were shocked when the Oldham-born star took to the stage to accept her NTA awards and spoke in her real voice, which has been described as ‘posh’. One wrote: “I’m always shocked when I hear Sarah Lancashire’s real voice #NTAs,” as a second penned: “Me expecting Sarah Lancashire to have a Yorkshire accent but has a posh one instead.”
A third added: “Hearing Sarah Lancashire’s actual accent and not her Yorkshire accent is jarring #NTAs,” as a fourth shared: “You mean to tell me Sarah Lancashire isn’t poppin’ about with a proper Yorkshire accent??? I am shook.”
