Claire Sweeney has shared how she felt like an ‘imposter’ on her first day on the cobbles as she prepares to make her on-screen debut in Coronation Street. The former soap star and West End actress has joined the cast as Cassie Plummer - Tyrone Dobbs’ mum.
It was revealed back in April that Claire would be taking up the role as the much-loved mechanic’s real mum after he previously believed that his mum was Jackie Dobbs, played by Margi Clarke, before investigations into his own family history discovered his maternal grandmother, Evelyn.
But she told him that her daughter, his biological mother, was dead and has since formed her own bond with her grandson and his family - made up of wife Fiz and children Hope and Ruby.
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Next week, Cassie will be introduced to Corrie viewers for the first time as Claire reveals that she comes looking for her mum for help as, as an addict, she wants to get clean and be a part of her family’s life. And fans will also learn the Evelyn has secretly been helping her daughter during her trips away from Weatherfield.
“I love Cassie and I hope the audience loves her as well, as much as I do,” Claire told the Manchester Evening News and other press. “She’s troubled, she’s feisty, she’s going to cause some trouble on the cobbles.
“She’s a loose cannon but she’s vulnerable as well… She’s an addict and that’s what makes her so unpredictable. She really does have great intentions to get better and be with the family but she’s an addict and it’s quite sad really.”
Talking about how she got the role for the first time, former Brookside star Claire, who is famed for having played Lindsey Corkill in the scouse soap, shared how an audition for the part landed on her lap just hours before soap bosses needed to see and cast their verdict on her self tape.
“My agent got an email asking me to do a self-tape and it came at like six o’clock in the evening and they needed it the next day,” Claire explained.”It was one of those times when I’d been really busy working and it was the only night off I had so thankfully I was at home.
“I phoned my mate who’s an actor and I said, ‘Can you come over? I’ve got this self-tape to do,’ and it was a big, big scene. There were no names on it, no Tyrone on it, there was no Evelyn…There were different names to protect the script.
“I learnt it and did it in my bed which wasn’t appropriate really because I’ve got a big, flashy, silver bed. It was supposed to be a hospital bed but I was lying there in my over-the-top silver bed. So I did these scenes, managed to learn it really quick, my friend came over, we filmed it and we had it on the casting desk by nine o’clock the next morning.”
Clearly pleased with what they saw, Claire was then invited to do a chemistry test with Alan Halsall, who is famed for playing Tyrone in Corrie for more than 20 years and she shared how ‘reality struck’ when she arrived at the Salford-based set.
“The funny thing is, having done the audition from the safety of my bedroom, reading with my mate, I felt really safe,” she told us. “I wasn’t nervous or anything but then to suddenly turn up at Coronation Street and I walked in and I saw the cobbles and my stomach [flipped].
“I suddenly got this flip in my stomach and I thought, ‘Oh my God, it’s Coronation Street. It’s real!’ You go in the building and the first thing you see is a massive picture of Ena Sharples and it suddenly hit me, the reality of it. I’m a massive Corrie fan, I’ve grown up watching Corrie. It’s been a part of our household since I was a kid and to suddenly be there and see it, reality struck home.”
And getting the role was probably meant to be for Claire as she got the all-important news on a very special date which also shared a link to her getting her now-famous part in Brookside.
“When I got the part on Brookside, it was my birthday, the 17th of April. When I got the part of Cassie, it was my birthday, 17th of April,” the 52-year-old said. “I was in Majorca with my family and my agent swore me to secrecy. So I had my mates phoning me up wishing me happy birthday and I knew I had a part in Corrie.
“Even my mate Tony said to me, he knew I had auditions [for Corrie], ‘Aw, wouldn’t it have been lovely if you had got it on your birthday,’ and I thought, ‘I can’t say anything!’ But I’ve got two parts in soap operas on my birthday which is the best present ever.”
And as a huge Corrie fan, Claire has shared how she felt like an ‘imposter’ during her first proper day on the cobbles, officially as part of the cast, which included a huge scene with Dame Maureen Lipman, who is now much-loved for playing Evelyn in the long-running soap.
“I felt like an imposter,” she laughed. “Proper imposter syndrome waiting to be escorted out, like I had snuck in on one of the tours. I couldn’t believe it. I’m such a fan and I’m so grateful for this job and to be playing Cassie. It’s literally a dream come true. Hollywood or Corrie, give me Corrie any day. Not that Hollywood was an option but for me, it’s the equivalent. It’s just so wonderful.
“And there was a moment, I’m embarrassed to say this but I’ll say it because it’s true, after I did that photo [her first promo shot as Cassie], I knew this was going to happen, I thought how am I going to feel when I see one of the iconic characters on the cobbles and after I did that picture, I saw Audrey [Sue Nicholls] getting into a taxi doing a scene and it was so brilliant.”
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