Carla stung by jealousy
Just when it seemed as though Carla Connor and Peter Barlow may have reunited on Coronation Street, Peter has turned his attentions to Abi Franklin – which is another blow for Carla, who is also doing her best to protect Roy Cropper. James Rampton reports
It never rains, but it pours for Carla Connor in Coronation Street. Not only is she contending with the fallout from the arson on the boat she had bought for Peter Barlow, but she is also having to cope with feelings of deep jealousy.
It’s another time of calamity on the cobbles for Carla.
At New Year, it seemed as if Carla (Alison King) might hook up with Peter (Chris Gascoyne). But that never came to pass and now Carla is having to deal with the galling sight of Peter getting together with Abi Franklin (Sally Carman).
King, 45, who has played Carla since 2006, reveals that, “She is really jealous and she is struggling with that. They had the moment over New Year where they made the decision to just be friends.
“She had started to think maybe that was the wrong decision and then obviously she saw Peter and Abi together. She hadn’t suspected that. At the time, she was considering saying to him that they should give it a go. But having seen them together, she realised that she had been right to keep her distance.”
King, who won Best Actress at the 2012 British Soap Awards, says that before then both Carla and Peter seemed to have accepted it was
finally over and they meant what they said at New Year.
“Carla definitely did accept that, yes, but Peter less so. He has been constantly testing the water and trying to make her jealous along the way, and if he could have a little dabble in the meantime, then happy days.”
Carla was genuinely shocked when Peter came looking for her straight after being with Abi.
King, who has also starred in Dream Team and Help, observes that, “She (Carla) was disgusted with him. She said it made her feel sick. He had just come from Abi and hadn’t so much as cleaned his teeth.
“He thought he could just make a move on Carla. It is the last thing he should have done if he wanted to try to win her back.
“After that, it was a little bit easier for her to reject him and move on because it gave her something to be angry about. He had proved to her that he was the man she thought he was, and he has let her down again.”
As if that wasn’t enough to deal with, Alison is also devastated by the loss of the boat.
“She is absolutely gutted that the boat has gone. She bought it for Peter, it was his dream.
“He wants her to look at the CCTV to see who was responsible. She isn’t in any rush really, but Peter wants answers.”
She gets the shock of her life when she watches the CCTV footage and realises that the arsonist was, in fact, her beloved Roy (David Neilson). Her relationship with him is the one anchor in her life.
According to King, “When Carla finally gets round to going through it, she is in total shock when she sees Roy on the CCTV footage. She goes into total protection mode.”
That entails covering up his crime and saying nothing when Abi is implicated. But King argues that the normally very moral Carla does not deliberately stitch up her rival for Peter’s affections.
“The fact that Abi is in the frame is not at all premeditated. It is nothing to do with Peter and Carla.
“It is simply that if people are suspecting Abi, they won’t be looking at Roy. It is convenient. It is unlike Carla, but she is desperate to protect Roy.
“She isn’t trying to stop Peter and Abi making a go of it. But as far as Carla is concerned, if people are jumping to the natural conclusion that it must be Abi, then that is fine with her. Roy is the person she wants to protect, not Abi.”
Above all, Carla wants to prevent a breakdown of her relationship with Roy – such a prospect would be intolerable for her.
King explains that, “Even if Johnny is her dad, Roy is the person who has been most like a dad to her and the one person who totally understands her and cares unconditionally. Roy is her constant and her ‘home’.”