Summer Spellman hasn't had the easiest time of late in Coronation Street. The character, played by Harriet Bibby, first arrived on the cobbles five years ago when she was played by a different actress. She is the adopted daughter of Billy Mayhew's old flame Drew Spellman.
And when Summer lost the only parent she'd ever known in 2017 after Drew died from complications caused by cancer, his final wishes were for the then twelve-year-old to be placed in the guardianship of Billy and his then-partner, Todd Grimshaw.
But things soon became more difficult for the schoolgirl as Summer helped Billy beat a drug habit and get his life back on track, but has since faced her own troubles in the form of a diabetes diagnosis and a subsequent battle with bulimia.
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Viewers of the ITV soap have watched the teen struggle with the pressure of her final exams with a place at Oxford at stake while also battling her body issues after her Type 1 diabetes diagnosis. Things did brighten for the character with the introduction of boyfriend James.
However, he too is facing his own challenges as it was recently revealed that he is often beaten by his alcoholic father. And things have only got messier for the young couple as during Friday night's trip to the cobbles (August 19), Summer collapsed and once she regained consciousness, told Aaron that she accidentally forgot to take her insulin leading to more secrets and upset for them both.
For Harriet, who has played Summer since 2020, taking on the diabetes storyline has been a difficult yet important one. "After hearing that I was going to be diagnosed with diabetes, I really didn’t know a lot about the condition," Harriet previously told the Express. “So I had to do a lot of research, which I had to do again after I found out that it was going to lead to an eating disorder.
“It is such a specific condition that she [Summer] is living with and I think it affects a lot of people in a lot of different ways. To try and navigate how it would affect Summer was quite difficult. But I think it is really important because more people than we realise do suffer with things like this."
As already mentioned, Harriet took on the role of Summer in 2020 after the previous actress who played her, Matilda Freeman, decided to leave. She was 22 at the time and was cast in the role of the then 16-year-old. "It doesn't feel that bizarre," the Wigan-born actress told us at the time.
"I still feel like a kid and I do have a baby face, and she's had a difficult past which has made her more mature." She added: "I've always had to have ID on me and I'll have to carry it with me even more now."
And so it's no surprise that during a live TV interview last year, when she was 23, people were shocked to discover Harriet's real age. After opening up about her recent storyline on ITV's Lorraine, presenter Lorraine Kelly asked the star: "What age are you in real true life?"
"I am 23," she replied. A shocked Lorraine responded: "You look younger, and that's great! She's what, 16? But I think because of the storylines she's going through, you need to have that sort of maturity in a way to deal with that, because in her young life she's gone through a lot!"
Back in April this year Harriet celebrated turning 24. She did so with her co-stars Elle Mulvaney, who plays her best friend Amy Barlow, and Jack James Ryan who plays Amy's boyfriend Jacob Hay in Corrie. The stars were joined by Harriet's sister and fellow actor Emily Wynne as they tagged in 42nd Street Nightclub and Revolution at Deansgate Locks.
Harriet is often seen with her young co-stars, including James Craven, who has recently joined the ITV soap as Aaron, and Billy actor Daniel Brocklebank but she also has another close friendship on set. When asked by OK! who she was closest to from the Corrie cast, Harriet said: "My closest friends are Dan [Brocklebank, who plays Billy Mayhew] and Gareth [Pierce, who plays Todd Grimshaw], who I work a lot with.
"But I’m also really good friends with Jane [Hazlegrove, who plays Bernie]. We get on really, really well and she’s really funny."
And despite being one of Corrie's main characters, Harriet recently revealed that she hasn’t given up her teaching role, despite being very busy playing on the Salford-based set. The 24-year-old used to work as a singing teacher before she joined the Corrie crew.
"On my weekends, I’m a singing teacher," she shared with Inside Soap Magazine. "On Saturday mornings I teach kids at a musical theatre club. I was a student and I’ve just carried on as I love it. It’s really fun and the kids are great."
She added: "The kids I teach watched me get slimed on CBBC — and they loved that!" she added, referring to her appearance on Saturday Mash-Up earlier this year.
Harriet has previously spoken about her teaching career and was told she had got the role of Summer Spellman during one of her lessons. Speaking to Lorraine Kelly on her self-titled ITV show, the soap star said: "I’m a singing teacher as well and I had a class full of kids.
"I saw my phone ringing and thought, 'I can’t answer it!' I had to wait until one of the other teachers came in and I said, 'Can you just take the class; I need to go and answer this call!'" Back in June, Harriet also showed off her hidden singing talent as she put her voice to a new charity single.
Taking to Instagram, she shared a post from Diabetes UK which showed Harriet alongside singer-songwriter Shane Board with the charity of explaining more in the caption. A link to the song, titled People We Keep, was then shared with the music video featuring both Shane and Harriet. It starts with the pair traveling in a car and later they're seen singing to each other.
But despite keeping her Saturday job, her role does mean she gets recognised. Tell OK! about one of her funniest fan encounters, Harriet said: "A lot of my family live in the North East and we’d been to a market in Tyne. There was this big, Geordie, bald bloke and he saw me, stared at me and his jaw dropped. I didn’t really click as in my brain I’m just Harriet.
"Then I walked past him, he said: 'You’re the spit of that lass from Corrie!' I said hello and we had our picture taken. Then, when we’d gone all around the market, we got back to his plant stall near the entrance. He ushered me over and he gave me a pineapple plant and said, 'I want you to take it to the set!'"
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