If we’re not on the cover of Inside Soap, we wonder what we’re doing wrong!
Alison Sinclair, Publicist
To bring you the gossip in Inside Soap, we have to be inside the soaps! That wouldn’t be possible without the help of our friends in the soap press offices, whom we work with daily – fishing for spoilers, arranging interviews and organising photo shoots. So who better to explain how that works than Corrie’s chief publicist, Alison Sinclair, who has been working on the cobbles for almost the same time that
Inside Soap has been on the news stand…
Hi, Alison! For our readers that don’t know, what does your job involve?
I am the chief publicity manager for Coronation
Street. I head up a team of three people who look after all the press and publicity for the show – everything from setting up interviews, putting cast members on television programmes, and also crisis management. That’s if the press want to talk about issues within the show or sometimes the actors’ private lives.
How long have you been doing that for now?
It’s been 25 years! I started in 1993, a year after Inside Soap launched. Your magazine was – and still is – a great way of gauging how the fans see
Corrie. Real soap fans buy your mag, so if we haven’t made your cover for a while, we think, ‘Why is that? Is that because they don’t believe our fans are engaged, or not?’ So it is important. You’re a bit like an industry magazine, as you’re the only one focusing on what’s happening in soaps. I also like it because I don’t have time to watch them all, so I can catch up with what’s happening in the other ones!
We’ve worked with your team for some great photo shoots. Do you have a fave?
I remember the huge cast shoot that you did for our 50th birthday. It captured the whole feel of the anniversary and was such a celebration – even though we had a tram come crashing off the viaduct!
I have to say that even those cast members who only do minimum press will always do
Inside Soap. You’re very friendly, there is no agenda – and most of all, they trust that you’re going to write it as they say it.
Corrie launched the careers of huge stars, all of whom have appeared in our magazine. Does it make you proud?
Absolutely. I saw Michelle Keegan [who played Tina Mcintyre] at an awards ceremony recently, and I always tell her how proud I am of her, as I knew her when she was just starting out. And people are always happy to chat as they tell us a lot
of confidential stuff and we look after them.
Do you ever feel like a mum to the actors?
Lucy Fallon [Bethany], Colson Smith [Craig] and Brooke Vincent [Sophie] all call me their Corrie mum! I have three grown-up children and some of the cast are a similar age, so I understand what a lot of them go through. We have a comfy chair in the press office and they’ll come in for a brew, put their feet up and have a chat!
What is the best part of your job?
I’ve just read storylines that will be on screen in April, and I love working out how to tease a big plot, without giving too much away. And you guys are good at that – when we as a team see the coverage, we think, ‘Wow, incredible’.
Do you ever dream of doing something else?
No, I’m 52 now – and would love to be at Corrie until I retire. I’ve found my niche, and I’m very happy!