It may have been her decision to leave but for Millie Gibson, bowing out of Coronation Street hasn’t been without its tears. The actress, known to viewers for playing Kelly Neelan in the ITV soap, will exit Weatherfield in dramatic scenes this month.
It has been revealed that her character will finally uncover the truth about killer Gary, and the fact he allowed her dying mother Laura Neelan to take the blame for killing her dad, Rick Neelan. Earlier this month, the soap’s producer Iain MacLeod has revealed that the pair will enter into a ‘Corriewood’ showdown as part of a ‘super September’ week this month which is usually saved for ITV’s ‘Super Soap Week’ in October.
It will all begin to unfold when Kelly’s dad’s former sidekick Sharon is horrified when she hears that Gary will be the one to give Kelly away on her wedding day to Aadi Alahan after the pair seemingly change the minds of their loved ones and get their approval after planning to elope to Gretna Green.
But, Kelly finds dated photos on her mum’s old camera that prove she couldn’t have been the one that murdered Rick after all, despite her confession in her dying days to cover for Gary. The teen ends up confronting Gary with no success, and soon it is Sharon who breaks the news to Kelly that Gary was the one who killed her dad.
Kelly dreams of revenge and is drawn in to her old man’s his dodgy underworld. Following her own kidnap, Kelly seizes the opportunity to pay a hitman to kill Gary - and chooses Kieron, the man who just a few months ago had her held captive in a cellar.
Millie has now revealed more on the scenes that don’t quite go as planned and both Gary and Kelly end up in danger and their lives hanging in the balance over the Manchester skyline.
“It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for,” Millie told the Manchester Evening News and other press about Kelly discovering the truth about Gary. “It’s a full arch of my whole storyline and her whole world just shatters before her. She thought that happened when her mum passed away but no, this is way worse.
“She doesn't know what to do with herself and you eventually see this cold… almost like her dad’s coming into her personality. You sort of see her starting to turn into Rick Neelan in that sense and it’s a completely new personality for her. It’s really bad.”
Corrie viewers will, however, see Kelly have a change of heart about having her guardian killed off. But as we already know, Kieron isn’t one to be trusted and he double-crosses her. He tells her that he’ll kill her, then Gary, and will make it look like a murder-suicide. “Kelly’s utterly rock bottom,” Millie says of her character facing death.
“There’s only so many times she can hit rock bottom for it to finally get to her. I think it’s got to her now, she’s just accepted her fate. She’s tried to do what she’s got to do, she’s gone back and she’s just been a bit naive and underestimated the people her dad dealt with and that’s when she realises, ‘Ok, I’m not my dad. I’m me.’” Asked if Kelly fears for her life, Millie says without hesitation: “Oh gosh, yeah!”
“You’ll see how intense it is,” the soap star adds. “She’s just a 17-yea-old girl, she’s experienced so much and this is her final get-up.” But Millie says she always knew that Kelly would find out about Gary.
“It had to happen,” she said. “It was just the amount of time it would take for her to find out. I think know it’s all come to a head, it’s been really interesting to see how it has played out. I didn’t expect it to happen this way, I didn’t expect Sharon to be the one to tell her. While we knew this would come of age, it’s happened in a way you wouldn't expect.”
Corrie has gone all out for the scenes, heading out to RecodeXR Studio in Trafford Park to film with special equipment used for mega movies like Avengers and Disney+ series The Mandalorian. And Iain believes they are the first soap opera to use the incredible technology.
“The first day I stepped onto the volume wall I thought, ‘Oh my god, we’re in Hollywood!’ It’s just incredible,” Millie admitted. “It was really long days and I’ve been exhausted but the cast, crew and producers have all been so amazing and I don’t know what I could have done without them.”
But it wasn’t short of emotional. “I’ve been a wreck,” Millie, from Broadbottom, said of filming her final scenes. “There was a good two weeks where I was crying constantly because I think I was just so overwhelmed and so grateful over the scenes and the storyline that had been given to me but there was a specific scene that stick out to me…”
She explained: “Throughout mine and Gary’s relationship, we’ve never hugged. We’ve always spoken like, ‘why have you never hugged me when I’m breaking down in a basement. But there’s a scene where Gary hugs Kelly, it’s a really simple scene but when we did it and shot it I just burst out crying. I’m getting choked up now.
“It was just the beginning of the end. When we started filming out last scenes of being nice to each other, we were both like, ‘Oh gosh, this is getting real now!’ But it’s been an emotional journey.”
Millie added of her relationship with Mikey North, who plays Gary: “Because it’s so beautiful our relationship on and off screen it’s just been emotional thinking we’re never going to act together again.”
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