Coronation Street actress Channique Sterling-Brown has opened up about her soap debut as much-discussed character Dee Dee Bailey in Weatherfield.
The lawyer, who is the daughter of Ed (Trevor Michael Georges) and Aggie (Lorna Laidlaw), is set to make her first appearance in the middle of a big storyline on the soap.
Actress Channique has opened up about her ‘organised chaos’ character and how she will make a friend in Alya on the ITV soap, as the pair dig into Stu’s case.
She said: “Dee Dee is going to be a lot of fun, a lot of chaos but in a good way. They're delving into Stu's case and seeing if he can be exonerated.
“I think that's going to be really exciting for us because it's such a big storyline and gripping. It's two young women [playing] detective and I am excited to see where it goes.”
As a member of the Bailey family, Channique said the experience of joining their dynamic was ‘amazing’ because they ‘completely embraced’ her.
She continued of her character Dee Dee: “She's a bit of me. Organised chaos is how I would describe her. She's a great lawyer. She knows what she's doing.
“I relate to her because I think we are quite similar. Even the fact she's a lawyer – I was originally not going to go to drama school and I was going to train in law. I got a place at a law school.
“Last minute, I pulled out and decided to pursue drama school and they said to me, come back to us when you've worked the acting out of your system.”
Corrie show boss Iain MacLeod said he ‘loves’ Dee Dee’s character, explaining: “You can expect a certain amount of chaos. She’s got an incredibly big heart. She’s incredibly competent at her job, but you’d never guess that to meet her.”
“With this character we thought, ‘Well, I don’t know if I want her to have one,”’ Iain said. “I sort of didn’t want to discover that she’s got some terrible burden.”
This has allowed the writers to create a character who Iain described as ‘incredibly joyous.’
He said: “I think the world needs a bit of that at the moment, rather than somebody pretending to be joyous but really they’re terribly sad because their dog died recently or something darker.
“So in short, she’s just this big bundle of fun, I have to say. And I strongly anticipate the audience will really take to her.”
Coronation Street airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV.
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