NICOLA WON’T BE BROUGHT TO HEEL
Soap bosses’ pledge as they sign shoe storm actress
CORRIE bosses have promised new girl Nicola Thorp she won’t be forced to wear heels on the show.
The actress made headlines last year when she was sent home from her old temp job for refusing to stick to a strict dress code.
Nicola, 28, from Blackpool, said being told she had to wear high heels as a receptionist at accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers was “blatantly sexist”.
She then campaigned to change employment laws allowing firms to dictate how women dress for work.
Now Nicola has landed the role of a lifetime in Weatherfield, playing Pat Phelan’s secret daughter, social worker Nicola Rubenstein.
And she has made sure show bosses don’t stick her character in high heels.
She said: “That was an interesting conversation with the costume department. A lady called me and said, ‘I just wanted to get a feel for what Nicola might wear’.
“I said, ‘Is it OK if she doesn’t wear heels for a while,’ and they were like, ‘Yeah, it’s really difficult to walk on cobbles in heels’.
“So at the moment I’ve only worn flats, but I personally wear high heels for different events, and I’m sure if my character was to do a scene in that scenario, I wouldn’t have a problem doing that either.
“It’s very different playing a soap character to being a receptionist.” Nicola, whose parents own a Blackpool rock factory, was scared to tell Corrie chiefs about the shoe row – an incident which led to a parliamentary report.
She said: “No-one knew and I didn’t want to tell anyone. I was really worried. With any new job you worry about rocking the boat.
“I’m very proud of what I did with that campaign, but as an actress I was worried that people wouldn’t want to go near that.
“Actually, Coronation Street has got an incredible history of strong, feisty women and when I did say, ‘Look I’ve kind of done this thing,’ they were super-supportive.”
Nicola, who has lived in London for the last few years, was so broke before getting the role she almost didn’t make the screen test.
She said: “I’ve spent years struggling as an actress. I borrowed money to get the train to Manchester for my screen test.” And she is currently living on a barge, as she couldn’t afford London house prices. She said: “I’ve just bought a narrowboat. “I haven’t named her yet – but maybe I could call her Rita.”