Ali struggles with his guilt
TORTURED ALI IS GRAPPLING WITH HIS KILLER ACTIONS, AND IT COULD BREAK HIM, FEARS CORRIE’S JAMES BURROWS…
It’s hard to believe that Weatherfield’s heroic Dr Ali is now officially a killer. But his split-second decision to remove the metal post that was keeping drug boss Ronan alive means that he now has blood on his hands.
Ali is tormented by guilt – and in the depths of despair, everything he thought he was is slowly slipping away. It will lead to dark times ahead, warns Corrie’s James Burrows…
“I was a bit worried when I first read the scripts because I didn’t want Ali to become the new Pat Phelan – mass murderer!” shares the actor, who joins us for a chat about his alter ego’s darkest hour. “It’s a terrible thing for anyone to do, but especially for doctors, who have saving lives ingrained in them. I’ve played Ali while keeping in mind the fact that we’ve always said there is an underlying darker side to him. Obviously now, after the murder of Ronan, it’s finally been revealed.”
This is no cut-and-dried killer case, though. Ali did what he did after realising that Ronan was hell-bent on killing his brother Ryan. Their relationship and his tortured bond with mum Michelle have left him deeply damaged. Now, he’s gone against the Hippocratic Oath to protect them.
“Ali has a lot of anger!” admits James. “There’s always been two sides to him – the Ali at work and then Ali at home with his mum and brother. He has a lot of frustration that stems from being away from his family for so many years. He’s dedicated his whole life to medicine for the past seven years – from uni and medical school to becoming a junior doctor. Now he’s in a situation where he doesn’t know if he can ever go back to helping people again.”
It’s out of character for Ali, but James has played plenty of baddies before, and he’s had to work hard to develop his skills as a pretend doctor.
“My mum is a nurse, so that’s been very helpful if I’ve ever had to do any research – I can just go to her,” grins the star. “She’s given me advice before I’ve filmed stuff with dressings, and that’s helped me when there are terms I haven’t heard before. She spells things out to me, and that’s great because I can just come into work, get it bang on and sound professional!”
That’s certainly helpful on set, but James reckons that some jokey Coronation
Street fans like to test his doctorly credentials when they see him out and about.
“Has anyone in real life come up to me and asked for medical attention? Yep, mostly when I’m in the pub!” he laughs. “It’s mainly men when they’ve had a drink! But I’ve only done a CPR course, so I’ve learnt how to do that. Luckily at
Corrie, we always have someone on site to take me through medical stuff!”
It sounds as though Ali’s crisis of identity might mean James won’t have much technical terminology to grapple with in the coming weeks. So does he think that Ali will ever get back to the medical profession?
“I think he’ll go into a deep state of depression, as he’s vulnerable, paranoid and very down,” reveals the actor. “I’ve played a lot of dark characters in the past – drug dealers, murderers and the like – and that’s why this has been a great job for me, because playing a doctor is very different. But it was nice to go back to playing a nasty person for a moment. We filmed the crash scenes on location, and it looked so cinematic. At one point, I had four people’s blood on me – it was a nightmare to get off!”
Drunk men come up to me for medical advice!