Corrie’s brother and sister acting duo Rebecca Ryan and Jack James Ryan make no secret of their close bond, sharing touching social media posts about themselves, Jack describing his sister as “a literal” angel and Rebecca admitting working with him is a “dream come true”.
But when Rebecca took on her role as scheming Lydia Chambers in December, no one in the cast or crew knew she was related to Jack, 25, who had joined earlier last year as drug dealer Jacob Hay.
Rebecca, 30, says: “Nobody at Coronation Street had any idea. When I joined, I’d be talking to people and say, ‘Oh, yeah, my brother works here’. And they’d go, ‘Really, who’s your brother? What? Jack!’.
“It’s a dream come true to be working on the show at the same time, but it’s a total coincidence.”
Rebecca, whose character Lydia is out to destroy ex-boyfriend Adam Barlow for the hurt he caused during their university days, cannot disguise her pride in little brother Jack.
And she has more reason than most to keep a protective arm around him, as five years ago, at the age of 20, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
Rebecca says: “It definitely brought us closer together. I would die for my brother. We’re best friends and it’s been like that ever since we were kids. We talk on the phone at least once a day and I feel so protective towards him. I was there for him through all his hospital appointments, but I felt so helpless.”
Jack, who was a drama school student when he found the lump, had surgery in 2017 and made a full recovery. He wrote a play, Me & My Left Ball, about his experiences.
Rebecca says: “I’m a very emotional person. I cry over adverts, I cry when I’m happy, when I’m sad and when I’m hungry, but this was weird. I did cry, but at the same time it felt like it wasn’t real.
“I couldn’t get my head around it. I kept thinking, ‘It’s fine, it’s not happening. Everything is going to be all right’. That’s how I got through it and, luckily, he was all right.
“Thank God, he checked himself and found the lump and got it looked at quickly. The NHS took him straight in and he was operated on.
“I can’t stress how important it is to check yourself and if you find anything, get it looked at straight away.”
Rebecca and Jack’s older brother Charlie, 34, was the first in the family to appear on TV, getting a role in the BBC One drama State of Play at the age of 14. Rebecca says: “They mentioned they hadn’t cast his little sister, and he said, ‘Oh, I’ve got a little sister’. That was how I got started.”
Paul Abbott, who wrote State of Play, went on to create Shameless, about the dysfunctional Gallagher clan, and Rebecca landed the role as Frank and Monica’s daughter Debbie.
The show featured a fair bit of sex, swearing, drugs and violence. Rebecca, who was only 11 when she got the part, says: “At first my mum read the script and was like, ‘Oh, God, this is a bit much’. But once she read on, she realised there was humour in it. It was a lovely, family atmosphere, and as I was young, everyone took me under their wings and looked after me.”
Rebecca grew up in Prestwich, Gtr Manchester, with mum Maranna, a psychiatric nurse, Charlie and Jack.
Maranna had grown up in Northern Ireland and was the first ever World Irish Dancing Champion. Rebecca followed in her footsteps, starting dancing at the age of three.
She took part in competitions all over the country, and ended up ranked third in the world. She says: “I absolutely loved it, but I took up acting and dancing then took a back seat.”
After six years in Shameless, Rebecca quit, and had roles in Waterloo Road and Casualty, before joining Corrie. Viewers have seen her character Lydia destroy Adam’s marriage, by faking evidence to convince his wife Sarah that she had been having an affair with him.
Her plan worked and Adam has lost his wife, his home and his job, too.
With Sarah filing for divorce, a desperate Adam met Lydia at a coffee shop to try to reason with her. As they argued, Lydia railed at Adam for his treatment of her at university and in a rage, she slapped him, before giving him a hard shove.
Caught off balance, Adam plunged over the balcony railings of the shopping centre to the floor below.
Later, at the hospital, doctors told his family he had suffered a bleed behind the eye and needed surgery to save his sight.
Rebecca says: “Lydia has taken it too far, but I do see the reasons why. She’s not doing this because she’s a horrible person, she’s doing it from a deeply-rooted pain Adam has caused her. She wants him to realise what he put her through.”
Lydia is proving to be the baddie that viewers love to hate, but Rebecca takes it all in her stride. She says: “A lot of people say that Lydia is horrible and horrendous – but I can separate me from Lydia. I don’t read all of it, because I think it can consume you and make you feel bad.
“I mainly take it as a good thing – people are only commenting because they are so invested in the storyline.”
Jack still lives at the family home, but Rebecca has her own place nearby, where she lives with her fiancé Dan, a pilot, who she met at college aged 16.
She says: “He sits next to me when Coronation Street is on and goes, ‘Oh my God, Becca, you’re horrible’. I say, ‘I know, but it’s not me’. I’m the opposite to Lydia. I’m the most laid-back person. I try to just let things go.”
Looking to the future, Rebecca dreams of appearing in a period costume drama. She says: “Something like Downton Abbey or Bridgerton or Sense and Sensibility.” But for the time being she is more than happy causing chaos on the cobbles.
She says: “If you had said to my mum when we were growing up that all three of her children would end up as actors, she’d probably have said, ‘Can someone not just get a normal job, please’. But she’s 100% supportive, she’s our Number One fan.”
Coronation Street airs on ITV on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8pm
