Coronation Street star Sally Carman admitted she was so emotional filming scenes with Abi Webster’s premature baby that she “couldn’t do it without crying”.
Viewers were left stunned on Sunday (March 6) as Abi collapsed on the roadside before managing to call 999 – already in labour with a baby she didn’t know she was pregnant with.
That baby Alfie could be the product of an affair with Imran Habeeb – and with Abi using drugs at the time before his birth – will only throw more spanners in the works with Abi trying to patch up her marriage to Kevin.
And the emotional scenes were so much for actress Sally that she had to take a moment to herself.
Speaking to Daily Star and other press, the soap star explained of the prosthetic baby using for filming: “They are so real, and they breathe. They’ve got a little pup, and that was something else because they are so tiny – smaller than a little chicken.
“The monologues I’ve got where I’m speaking to the baby, it was really hard to do them without crying, because you’re just like, ‘Oh my goodness, babies exist at this size and they’re so vulnerable’.”
However, it wasn’t all sad tears – as Sally said the baby actually made her erupt into hysterics.
She explained: “The one we’ve got looks exactly like Chris Lilley, the Australian comedy guy. It’s the spit of Chris Lilley, so I was just in hysterics for the first hour, like, ‘I can’t do this!’
“And then the baby’s got black hair – quite a lot of hair- so it then morphed into Paul McCartney? So I was just on my own little tangent!”
(Image: ITV)
Only adding to the hilarity is that a member of the crew has to operate the pump which simulates the baby’s breathing – though luckily they remained in the corner rather than lying down on the floor in front of the cot, which Sally feared would send her into further fits of giggles.
She added: “It was a mixture of, ‘Wow, that’s intense!’ to ‘That’s hilarious!'”
For Sally, the new storyline meant she got to stretch some well-worn acting muscles so soon after the emotional Super Soap Week storyline, which saw her head out for revenge on her son Seb’s killer.
She said of the new story: “I didn’t know anything [about the pregnancy], I was playing it out in real time – which works for me.
“I couldn’t envisage any of the storylines I’ve had, to be honest, to the point where I’m like, ‘How would a person go about doing this?’
“But it’s brilliant because the extremes are so brilliant to play. A lot of TV is realistic because it has to be, but this is filmic in a way because you get to play such extreme things. It’s fantastic, it’s a joy.”
The star continued: “We were on the hospital set last week, doing like 10 scenes a day, but they all flowed into one and you really got to work those acting muscles.
“At the end of the day you’re tired, but you’re like, ‘This is the best job in the world’. With Georgia [Taylor] and Charlie [De Melo] and Mike [Le Vell], it’s the dream team. I’m just over the moon.”
Coronation Street airs from 8pm Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on ITV.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
