Messages from a murderer

Sophie Thompson on her Coronation Street character’s claim that killer Richard Hillman is speaking to her from beyond the grave

Fifteen years ago this month, Coronation Street killer Richard Hillman died after driving his car into a canal while trying to kill his wife Gail and her family, along with himself. So when Gail learns this week that clairvoyant Rosemary Piper has a message from beyond the grave from evil Hillman, no wonder she’s perturbed. But Gail is also intrigued and arranges to meet the psychic to find out more.

‘Of course, Richard was not a very nice person and profoundly affected Gail’s life,’ explains Sophie Thompson, who plays the clairvoyant. ‘To hear even his name must chill her bones, and she’s disturbed by it. She kind of wants to know more but also doesn’t at the same time.’

Rosemary arrived in Weatherfield last week, first seeking out Gail’s mum Audrey in the salon to reveal she’d been communicating with Audrey’s late husband Alf. Then she told Audrey that she also had messages from Gail’s dead husbands.

‘Rosemary’s quite a mysterious bird who’s clearly got information, but who knows if she has genuine gifts?’ says Sophie, 56. ‘She’s giving things away but nothing too specific, and it’s curious she has this information. It’s all very vague at the

moment. But it might potentially cost Gail money to find out more…’

Viewers will recognise Sophie – whose older sister is Hollywood star Emma Thompson – from her many TV and film roles, including Four Weddings And A Funeral, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows and EastEnders, in which she played Phil Mitchell’s child-abusing partner Stella Crawford. But she says getting a part in Corrie, which she grew up watching, rivals anything she’s done before. ‘I feel like I’ve won some sort of prize. I couldn’t have been luckier to find my story was with two such wonderful women as Sue Nicholls and Helen Worth, who play Audrey and Gail.’

Despite a stellar career, Sophie was still nervous on her first day filming.

‘Joining any soap is like getting on a moving vehicle,’ she says. ‘It’s like those old buses where someone is hanging off the handrail; if it were a cartoon, my legs would be flying out behind! But I’ve been trying to look calm and not let the side down.’

Sophie, who has two sons, Ernie, 21, and Walter, 17, has signed until later in the spring, and commutes from her London home to Manchester for filming.

Unlike her character, however, Sophie does not claim to be able to predict the future. ‘At the moment, they have me here until the daffodils are blooming and after that, who knows,’ she says. ‘I just have to count my lucky stars I’m here now and enjoy how the story unfolds.’