As the friendly face of Rosamund Street Medical Centre the iconic Dr Susan Gaddas has diagnosed and treated almost every Coronation Street character you could think of. Legends including Kylie Platt, Leanne Battersby, Rita Tanner, Steve McDonald, killer Pat Phelan and most recently cafe owner Roy Cropper, who went to see her after suffering chest pains, have all taken a seat in her surgery.
Played by Christine Mackie, her first patient on the famous cobbles was back in 2014 when Max Turner was brought in by his parents David and Kylie Platt and she diagnosed ADHD. Shortly after, Beth Sutherland was a patient when she came out in an allergic rash after trying out one of Sinead Tinker's bath bombs.
Now, from the cobbles to centre stage, Christine is turning from Gaddas into 'baddass' as she takes on the title role in all-female and non-binary production of the Shakesperian tragedy King Lear. LEAR is brought to Hope Mill Theatre in Ancoats by HER Productions, a female-led theatre company based in Manchester.
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In LEAR the stage and screen star, who is also known to Downton Abbey viewers as Daphne Bryant, will take on a fresh and boundary-less approach to the story of the ageing monarch who, before dividing up their vast kingdom between their daughters, asks them to prove which loves them best.
This LEAR will explore the monarch colliding with the working class; the very people they have abandoned and let down and a world where systems are breaking down and a plush corporate board room can fall into ruin and disarray. Christine, 66, who has also starred in The Grand, Banana, My Phone Genie, French and Saunders, Wire in the Blood and Fat Friends and LEAR marks her sixth Shakespearian role. having previously played Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Adrianna in Comedy of Errors, Elizabeth in Richard III and Lady Macduff in Macbeth twice.
In 2019, she received critical acclaim for writing her very first play Best Girl which she took to both the Greater Manchester and Edinburgh Fringe and in which her own daughter, actress Lois Mackie starred. Also last year her new play KIN premiered at the Dukes in Lancaster, of which she is an honorary patron, and will tour in 2024.
Christine says she's 'absoloutely delighted' to be taking on her current role in LEAR. "There's lots of juicy stuff in there and the production is high in terms of energy," she told us.
And she said about the groundbreaking production: "Theatre holds up a mirror to the world. We have a right to be seen and acknowledged."
Christine is excited to be joining fellow actors Maxine Peake, Tracy-Ann Oberman and Adjoa Andoh in taking on male mantle after they starred in reconsiderings of Shakespeare's Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice and Richard III. "It's exciting to shake things up," she said.
In LEAR Christine, 66, joked that she looks like Dr Gaddas' 'evil twin.' She said: "Some audiences will know an actor from one role or one type of role but there are lots of people who won't know me from Adam. If being known or associated with Coronation Street brings in audiences then I'll be more than happy. Come and see what Dr Gaddas is doing outside the surgery."
She laughed about her popular character, who for years has had fans calling to see more of her on the street and to become a more regular fixture in the soap: "My Mastermind subject would probably be 'Coronation Street characters and their ailments.'"
She recalls an amusing moment when she was mistaken for a real doctor. "A woman turned around and asked me 'you're one of my doctors aren't you?' I feel very privileged and I do enjoy it," she said about her role. "I still get giddy when I go into the Rovers."
Christine says a highlight of her time as Dr Gaddas was the scene when baby Bertie Osbourne went in in for his baby injections with his dad Daniel, played by Rob Mallard. "He was such a happy little boy and I had to look like I was giving him an injection. He was smiling away," she recalled. "It was stressful," she admitted.
Another was Tim Metcalfe pulling his trousers down after Peter Barlow wound him up, letting him think the appointment would include a prostate examination. "There's a lot of laughing," she said. "I work with very nice people who I've known a long time and I hope it continues." She added: "In the surgery there's a stethoscope and every actor picks it up and tries it."
LEAR will be at Hope Mill Theatre from Wednesaday, June 7 to Monday June 18. To book tickets visit hopemilltheatre.co.uk and Shakespeare North’s Cockpit Theatre in Prescot from Wednesday June 21 to Saturday, June 24. To book visit shakespearenorthplayhouse.
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