SCREEN QUEEN
Kate Ford on how Corrie alter-ego Tracy Barlow has mellowed.
Her character doesn’t suffer fools gladly. Well, not at all to be honest.
When you’ve spent time behind bars, convicted of bumping off your partner by bashing him over the head with a heavy ornament, that’s pretty self-evident.
It might explain why Kate Ford says people have never – not once – come up to give her grief about Tracy Barlow’s on-screen antics.
Anyway, Kate insists as iN10 catches up with her after another morning’s busy Coronation Street filming, Tracy’s mellowed over the years. Sort of.
“Tracy was a bit more of a minx when she came in, more of a troublemaker and feisty,” says Kate, 41. “Now she runs a business and has had to mature. Not just because she’s got older but because she has more responsibility in her life.
“She employs people and can’t just go gallivanting about. So she is a more grown-up character, while still mischievous.
“And now she’s got Steve, she’s a lot calmer. She’s a bit more... normal.
“And she’s not necessarily the biggest villain in Weatherfield either.”
What Kate does still have is a way of calling a spade no kind of horticultural implement whatsoever. It can make for suck-in-your-breath, squirm-a-bit telly.
And while actors generally love getting stuck into being a bit of a baddie, Kate admits it can be equally uncomfortable for her, too.
“When she makes disparaging remarks about mental illness I do find that difficult,” confides mum-of-one Kate.
“I don’t even want to put those thoughts out there. But there are loads of people who don’t have compassion.
“That’s real life. Not everyone has understanding all the time and there are plenty of people with narrow views like Tracy.
“It’s a character, not me and thankfully people understand it’s a drama.”
And there’s nothing a drama loves more than a wedding – last week saw two as well as a car crash – with all the heightened emotions and potential for it all going horribly wrong either before or after the rings have been exchanged.
The build-up to the wedding between Tracy and Steve (Simon Gregson) certainly made a happy-ever-after outcome questionable when the groom slept with Leanne.
“This wedding was what she always dreamt about,” says Kate. “But with Leanne – which she didn’t know about – there was a bit of a misunderstanding with him thinking she was giving him a free pass before they got married. She was thinking of a free spa pass – not sleeping with someone else!”
Wedding stories are as much loved by viewers as scriptwriters, but Kate says marital matters can be wearing.
“It’s a lot of work. They are always really long days. I did enjoy it – but to be honest I’m glad it’s over. They’re harder than a regular day’s work because as the bride, you’re right at the centre of it – and you have to get into the wedding dress.
“I was actually really pleased with it. I chose it along with the costume department.
“On balance it was maybe more me than Tracy. It was quite elegant, not a big gypsy wedding-type dress which for her is quite unusual. When I’m out shopping, if I go into Top Shop and I see things that aren’t for me but would be great for Tracy I’ll get them put behind and the costume lady will pick them up.
“I’ll get things that are semi in fashion or kind of all right but just not the sort of thing I would wear.”
Kate’s real life marriage, to TV producer Jon Connerty, didn’t work out. They wed in 2007 but separated in 2013.
They have a 10-year-old son, Otis, and she left after his birth with the jail storyline – Tracy was finally freed from her 15-year sentence after three years due to discredited forensic evidence – being her dramatic swansong.
She was happy to be back at the end of 2010. “I wanted a break at
I don’t want to feel guilty because I go out to work. I do it for my son
the time and spent three years after having my baby. But then I needed to have a regular job. “I’ve always been grateful that I had the opportunity to come back to Coronation Street.”
And while there can be long days and the usual emotions that any working parent has about being away from their child, Kate takes a very pragmatic view of feeling guilty.
“I’d feel more guilty if I couldn’t pay my mortgage or my child didn’t get any Christmas presents because I wasn’t working.
“I don’t want to feel guilty because I go out to work. I do it for my family, for my son.”
Kate proudly posted happy snaps a few weeks’ back of her and Otis on a day out at musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.
So, might there be any lurking thespian talent, a hint of wanting to follow in mum’s acting footsteps?
“Absolutely not!” says Kate with a hearty chuckle. “Otis is the least bothered about acting or going on the stage of any child I have ever met. He likes his gaming and YouTube like a typical 10-year-old. At one stage he went to drama lessons because some of his friends were going, but it just wasn’t for him.”
Kate says she’ll support whatever Otis wants to do, as the last thing a youngster needs is extra expectation.
“I think life’s tough for every kid nowadays. And then there will be competition for jobs, it’s hard to get on the property ladder and there just aren’t great opportunities.
“I wouldn’t discourage anything that’s a passion.”
Living your life in the social media age is another pressure and Kate reckons she doesn’t have it as tough as it might be.
“It’s worse for girls. My friends who have daughters say they all want Snapchat and Instagram.
“I don’t think boys are as bothered, I’m relieved to say. Otis hasn’t asked for either.
“I think it was better without it, people had better childhoods.
“Now all the girls want to look a certain way. It’s all very pressured in a way we didn’t have when we were growing up.
“When I was young we all wanted to look like Winona Ryder – she had no make-up on and she used to dress in wellies. I think we were all a bit more indie.
“Now it’s a polished make-up look with not one hair out of place. That perception of attractiveness is not what we found desirable at school.”
With strong storylines like the wedding and much more coming up to get her teeth into, it’s not surprising that life in Weatherfield is suiting Kate very nicely and she’s in no rush to move on.
“Maybe in the future there will be opportunities but I don’t feel panicked at time passing,” she adds.
“I’m not massively ambitious and I’m not chasing things. But it’s not like I’m feeling, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got to be in a period drama.’”
Coronation Street, Mon, Wed, Fri, 7.30pm and 8.30pm