The actress said it’s a “privilege” to step into the role of Dee-Dee.
Coronation Street star Channique Sterling-Brown has given an insight into her character Dee-Dee Bailey as she celebrates Black History Month as part of ITV’s Breaking Through documentary.
The Bailey family made history on Coronation Street, as the show’s first ever Black family to join the cobbles back in 2019 and they have been part of hard-hitting storylines ever since.
Sterling-Brown’s character made her first appearance in 2022, something the actress says is “a great privilege”.
At the time of the Bailey family joining the cobbles, producer Iain MacLeod said: “Manchester has a large proportion of Black residents so it did feel sort of overdue we did this and represented modern Manchester a bit more accurately.”
This is something that Sterling-Brown wholeheartedly agrees with.
In an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com, Channique Sterling-Brown said it is “a real special thing” to represent “a Black family dynamic”, which isn’t often shown in soaps.
“The Bailey’s being the first Black family in the longest running drama in the world is so crazy. The family landed in 2019, so it’s a crazy thing, but it’s also like a real special thing because being able to represent family, a Black family dynamic, I think it’s something we don’t actually see that often on television, especially a northern Black family,” the Corrie star explained.
Sterling-Brown explained her enjoyment of acting alongside Ryan Russell, who plays her onscreen brother, especially when they are able to portray a “really funny, normal, sibling rivalry”.
She told RadioTimes.com: “Just the little Caribbean perks are so normal for our families that I think people don’t see.
“It’s so exciting that we actually get to bring that to a show like Corrie that is a British institution today and represent Black family life as well. It’s such a privilege. For me personally to be part of that, I absolutely love it.”
Sterling-Brown feels as though Dee-Dee’s experiences “aren’t just centred around her Blackness”, which is something she enjoys, but notes that her character is also “unapologetically Black”.
Describing her character in more detail, Sterling-Brown revealed to RadioTimes.com that Dee-Dee is “very bold, outspoken and a great friend” who is “authentically herself”, which she believes is important to see play out onscreen.
Sterling-Brown continued to describe Dee-Dee as “the family’s princess” but is also “absolutely formidable in the courtroom”, which she hopes allows young women who look like her “to feel seen” and “enjoy” who her character really is.
