Next week, Coronation Street airs some upsetting scenes as Sam Blakeman, suffering from psychosis, locks himself and Roy Cropper in the café. Nick Tilsley and Leanne and Toyah Battersby desperately try and get him to open up, but can they get through to him before it’s too late?
Nick actor Ben Price didn’t reveal the outcome, but he did talk about one big change that the soap has made behind the scenes: encouraging Sam’s young actor Jude Riordan to take the initiative on how to develop the story and his performance.
“It’s very tricky in the show to go from a child actor to, you know, your voice breaks, you get bigger, and you’re given a story which brilliantly bridges the child-to-adult story. Which you’re carrying,” Price said.
“We did talk about it a lot. We’re quite close in a very work way. We’re very good at sitting down and going, ‘What do they need from the scene?’
“I remember we did an early scene where he lost it, and I said, ‘I think we go for this. I think we really go for it, because I think you’re leading this now.’ When he was younger, I would probably be more of the driving force, but I said, ‘I think you are now. This is your story.’”
Price called it “a real privilege” as well as a “pressure” for Riordan, admitting that there was a “really big hump” that the youngster had to get through in the first few scenes, but he “cracked it” soon enough.
“Selfishly, I want him to be brilliant, and he is brilliant,” Price continued. “When you’re with someone who’s discovering that power as an actor, in an adult story, it’s really amazing to watch.
“He is really, really good and such a nice young lad as well. Super level, super diligent, but also, he’s got a bit of a Platt about him. It’s been really lovely for me. I get to work with a really good actor, and it makes me better.”
He also teased that there are “some really, really upsetting scenes” coming up, but ones that “really do justice to the story”.
Last month, Riordan revealed that a fractured ankle had him on crutches temporarily.
