Coronation Street star Channique Sterling-Brown has revealed she was turned down by Emmerdale bosses despite winning numerous awards since making her cobbles debut.
The 26-year-old actress, who plays Dee-Dee Bailey, made her first appearance in Weatherfield back in 2022 and won Best Newcomer earlier this year at both the Inside Soap Awards and British Soap Awards.
During The Big Quiz: Coronation Street vs Emmerdale on Thursday (December 28) night, Channique and her co-stars Jack P Shepherd and Tony Maudsley took on Mark Charnock, Kevin Mathurin and Natalie Ann Jameson in a series of general knowledge questions about their soaps.
READ MORE: Want more showbiz? Daily Star has just the thing for you!
READ MORE: Want more TV? Daily Star has just the thing for you!
However, Channique admitted on the programme that she could have been playing for the rival team after previously auditioning to play Naomi Walters, who is the daughter of Kevin’s character Charles Anderson. The actress told Kevin: “I could have been your daughter, but I didn’t get the job” leaving host Stephen Mulhern and Kevin shocked.
(Image: ITV)
It comes after Channique responded to the interracial dating backlash surrounding her character Dee-Dee’s romance with Joel Deering (Calum Lill). Speaking for the documentary Breaking Through with Zeze Millz, the soap star opened up about the new storyline saying there have been some “bizarre” fan reactions to the relationship.
“The dating storyline is really fun. Calum Lill, who plays Joel, is wonderful. We’re getting on like a house on fire,” Channique said. “I saw some comments about us being an interracial couple. Almost like: ‘An interracial couple on the Street – God forbid.’ I just thought it’s so bizarre, because the relationship had nothing to do with race. It really is just about two people who have found each other, and are really in that loved-up, gross honeymoon phase,” she continued.
(Image: ITV)
“It’s really nice to be able to play that without… I think as a Black woman in the industry, I think we do put constraints on ourselves on how we’re going to be presented, especially romantically.
“So whether we are the sexual interest or just the friend-zoned woman or whatever, I feel like we’re often hypersexualised or under-sexualised as Black female characters. So, again, it’s really nice to have this authentic relationship for Dee-Dee and Joel. It’s just normal. I really, really do love that. I think it’s so important to, obviously, present culture.
(Image: ITV)
Join the Daily Star Soaps WhatsApp for all the latest spoilers and exclusives
“I hate when people are like: ‘You’re playing the race card.’ No one’s making it about race. People just see ‘other’ and they assume that’s what it is. But it’s literally not about that at all. And that’s the same situation I feel with Dee-Dee. There is no race storyline that I’ve had, because she’s just a Black female solicitor. That’s who she is.”
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
