Legendary Coronation Street actress Jennie McAlpine has discussed the future of Fiz Dobbs in light of Sean Wilson’s announcement that he is leaving his role as Martin Platt.
The revelation that Sean Wilson has left his role as Martin Platt for “personal reasons” has led Coronation Street actress Jennie McAlpine to admit that her character’s future is never assured.
The actress, who plays Fiz Dobbs, appeared on Good Morning Britain on Monday (August 19) to chat about her two-decade-long journey in Weatherfield and her current romantic storyline involving Tyrone Dobbs (Alan Halsall) and Alina Pop (Ruxandra Porojnicu).
Richard Madeley, the show’s host, quizzed the soap legend: “Do you have any input? You’ve been doing it for so long are you able to say maybe to a scriptwriter, ‘Fiz wouldn’t say that’ or Fiz wouldn’t do that’. Have you got some input and a bit of control over the character? “
Jennie responded: “No and I don’t think I’d want to really because we have such a brilliant team and it’s massive. There’s researchers, storyliners and the actual script writers and producers. They come up with things, and have been coming up with things, for over 60 years and I think you just have to trust them.
“Some things you think ‘don’t know’ maybe work better than you even thought they would, and some things you think will be brilliant but don’t go so well so I think you’ve got to trust them and that’s life of the cobbles. You never know what’s going to happen with your character.”
Earlier this year, it was revealed that Sean would be reprising his role as Martin Platt in Coronation Street for Gail Platt’s final scenes. Helen Worth, who has played Gail for 50 years, announced she was leaving the soap.
However, over the weekend, it was confirmed that Sean had pulled out of his Corrie return “due to personal reasons”, meaning Martin will no longer feature in Gail’s exit storyline. Speculation is rife about how Gail will make her departure from Weatherfield, and reports suggest that John Thomson could be returning as biker Jesse Chadwick, a character last seen on screen in 2010.
Good Morning Britain’s entertainment editor Richard Arnold discussed the latest Corrie gossip on the ITV breakfast show. He shared: “It has been reported that John Thomson, who played Jesse Chadwick back in 2008, will be riding back on the street for Gail’s exit storyline so it could be a chance for her to grapple with Eileen again. Eileen and Gail’s feud, of course, is legendary.”
“I saw Sue [Cleaver, who plays Eileen Grimshaw] last week actually for dinner again but she’s very excited about John coming back and stuff and the prospect of a feud between the two girls again. Stay tuned for more Corrie news in the future when we have it.” Coronation Street has been contacted for a comment.
