I was drinking four litres of Coke a day at the height of my addiction... when I gave it up I lost 3st
countryside and watching Laura’s favourite TV crime dramas.
Her face lights up when she talks about him, saying: “I get to work with my boyfriend. It is really lush, really easy. It just feels normal. We are not seeing each other in the show so we are not in every scene together.
“But we are in the same family so we get to travel into work together sometimes, which is nice. And then we get to go home together and binge-watch Netflix.
“It sounds corny but I love working with him, I am really lucky. He’s my best mate.”
The couple are currently at the heart of a harrowing child abduction storyline. Kerry discovered Daz was the biological father of her husband Dan’s daughter, Amelia.
Amelia then went missing and the police suspected she had been abducted – with Daz coming under suspicion.
And although Amelia’s real kidnapper has now been revealed, the whole family is in turmoil as even more dark secrets have been uncovered. Laura says soaps have to tackle tough issues to reflect reallife. “I think you need light and shade,” she says. “There is darkness in life and I think the soaps deal with it really well.
“We did a lot of research watching programmes where a child goes missing, watching interviews of reallife stories.
“There have been lots of high-profile cases where children have gone missing and some still haven’t been found.
“And when there are no answers people want somebody to blame... it is just so awful, the thought of a child being in any sort of danger.
“We filmed a press conference and it was so true to life that there was something eerie about it.
“I think the audience have really latched on to the story because everybody can imagine the horror of their child going missing.” After six years on the show, Laura says she still sometimes feels like the “new girl” and has to pinch herself at how things have turned out. She now has her own home in a picturesque Yorkshire village not far from the set, where she and Mark can snuggle up.
“Everything has changed,” she smiles. “I was a jobbing theatre actress and a couple of months before I got this job I told my mum I thought I’d be saving money from one job waiting for the next.
“This job has changed my life in the best possible way.
“I love this character so much and I feel like I am still only scratching the surface.
“I love the bolshy side of her. I wish I could be more like her, and kind of speak my mind with no filter.
“I would love to stay here – if they would have me. I am just so happy, and I think when you are happy that shines through.”
This job has changed my life in the best possible way. I’d love to stay