REGULAR readers will know how impressed I was by the acting of Vicky Binns in scenes immediately following the death of Vera Duckworth.
I recently got the chance to chat to Vicky – Coronation Street’s Molly Compton – about those emotional scenes, screened in January.
“I just wanted it to be genuine, to be exactly how it is when someone dies,” she told me.
“Usually women are easier with their emotions, aren’t they?
“It’s certainly easier to cry. I think Molly took all that on straight away, whereas men react differently.
“It’s just the way that I’d read it. And the scripts were brilliant because there were very little words for all of us.
“So it gave us lots of time and lots of nice pauses and spaces to be upset.”
Vicky spoke about working with Corrie legend Liz Dawn.

“Obviously it was an end of an era and sad for Liz.
“But it was also a really lovely thing for Liz, because it was a happy event that she was leaving, for her – because it meant that she was going to go and spend lots of time with her family.
“And she could look back and reflect on all the brilliant storylines and everything that she’d done in the Street and go off and have lots of fab holidays and not have the stress of learning her lines anymore.”
I also asked Vicky about Liz’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the British Soap Awards in May.
“It was fabulous. I was sat next to her husband Don.
“And that was really strange, because you realise that he’s been there in the background through her whole life – all that time.
“So it was lovely that she was able to make it and get that award.
“And she never lets you down with her speech, Liz.
“You just know that as soon as she gets up and talks, you think, ‘Ooh, will she nail it?’
“She’s never not. And she always says what everyone wants to hear. She hits exactly the right note.
“She was so funny talking about getting her knickers in a twist.
“Only Liz can get away with that. It was great.”
British Soap Awards: Liz Dawn
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