Tina O’brien
As Adam pops the question to Sarah in the midst of a life-and-death situation, Tina O’brien reckons her alter ego would be mad to turn him down...
With her Street character Sarah Platt set to receive several shocks this Christmas – including an unexpected marriage proposal! – it’s no wonder star Tina O’brien can’t wait for viewers to watch the action. And when we settle down to tune in this Christmas Day, Tina will be doing the very same…
“I’m so looking forward to the Corrie Christmas episodes!” beams the star, who joins us for a festive chat. “They were a huge team effort and have been so much fun to film. I’ll be watching on Christmas Day with my husband Adam [Crofts], and possibly my mum, dad and my grandma. I do hate watching myself on telly, though. Adam and my daughter Scarlett say that all I do is shout at the screen!”
With all Sarah has in store, Tina will probably be in fine voice by the time the Christmas Day credits roll. Sarah’s one of the many local residents trapped by Derek’s gun rampage (see p4) – the deadly tension of which prompts her boyfriend Adam Barlow to pop the question! But while it might not be the most romantic of situations, Tina’s right behind the idea of the couple going for it.
“It’s the craziest time for Adam to ask!” she admits. “They’re huddled behind this tree in Winter Wonderland, hiding from Derek. She has her little boy Harry with her – which as you can imagine, was great fun in the middle of night-time filming! – so there’s a lot going on. But Adam offers everything Sarah needs, and she loves him – so of course she wants to marry him.”
Tina got hitched to her own husband Adam on New Year’s Eve last year, meaning that with 11-year-old Scarlett, and their little boy Beau, five, they have a double celebration to look forward to over the Christmas holidays. And Tina’s already prepared…
“We have a real Christmas tree –
I’ve spent a fortune on Christmas decorations!” laughs the actress.
“We have an elf, a fairy and a Father Christmas. We’re also in the process of moving house early next year, so I think that we’re going to invite everyone to ours this year. Adam will cook – he’s really good and doesn’t flap. Unlike me, who’s a bit like, ‘Argh! The Yorkshire puddings are burnt!’”
Back in Weatherfield, meanwhile, once the adrenalin has subsided in the wake of Adam’s proposal, both he and Sarah are left wondering if either of them has done the right thing. After all, it’s not that long since Sarah split from her ex-fiancé Gary – the bloke who’s prompted Derek’s deadly rage. But if Tina were a friend of Sarah’s, she’d urge her confused alter ego to stick with the handsome legal eagle.
“Sarah loved Gary and was very loyal to him, but they had a dysfunctional relationship,” she shares. “Adam is right for her – and it’s just because of the situation they’re in when he proposes that Sarah’s left thinking afterwards, ‘Did he really want to ask me that?’ And he’s wondering,
‘If we weren’t being stalked by a crazy man, would she still have said yes?’
“But of all the families for Sarah to marry into, the Barlows are the family I’d choose,” adds Tina with a grin. “The first Platt-barlow wedding! It’d be amazing to bring those two families together – like the Capulets and Montagues. That’d be cool!”