Leanne abandons Nick for Rowan!
SHE CHOOSES THE INSTITUTE OVER HER FAMILY AND HER BUSINESS…
Leanne falls deeper under the spell of The Institute this week, as Rowan invites her to head off on a retreat. Concerned, Toyah takes matters into her own hands as she decides to find out more about the mysterious organisation, while Leanne’s hubby Nick can’t help but feel his wife is slipping further away from him. Ben Price – aka Nick – fills us in on what’s next for the fractured family…
Hi Ben. It’s been clear that Nick’s not sold on The Institute, so how does he feel when Leanne reveals she’s dropping everything to go on this retreat with Rowan, and will be out of contact for two weeks?
He’s gutted, I think that’s the moment when he twigs that this is the way it could end up being. Leanne’s very much been emotionally withdrawing from Nick recently. This is him thinking it could lead to somewhere not great – she’ll withdraw more and more and end up saying she’s found another life.
Is Nick jealous of her closeness with Rowan?
Yeah definitely, he’s not happy about what’s going on in one respect, but he’s also not happy about what a goodlooking guy Rowan is, and the time they spend together. I think he does start to wonder what’s going on. Also, Rowan’s not particularly nice to Nick, he seems like he is, but Nick gets that vibe and knows Rowan doesn’t really want him around.
Leanne realises Nick is sceptical and invites him to come to The Institute with her – is he open to persuasion on this?
He’s thinking he probably should go, he knows it’s something he should do and he should always support Leanne. But then there’s also a part of Nick that goes, “I’m not changing my mind, this isn’t right”.
Meanwhile, we have Toyah starting to do a bit of digging into The Institute’s
Nick’s not happy about the amount of time they spend together”
past and she meets up with Rowan’s ex – we presume Nick isn’t exactly trying to stop her doing this…
He definitely doesn’t mind Toyah looking into things because he thinks there is something more to it. Toyah’s much more invested in it and more convinced that Leanne is being dragged into something bad, whereas I think Nick is more stuck between a rock and a hard place. He’s stuck in between what’s effectively his wife and his sister-in-law and he’s trying to hedge his bets both ways. He understands that Leanne needs a bit of freedom, but he’s also worried about her and what Toyah is saying.
Leanne heads off and will be off-grid for a fortnight, so Nick is left to deal with Simon when he hits the bottle, does this make him more resentful?
I think Nick has had enough – he’s annoyed. Simon put his son at risk, and he’s displaying a lot of the character traits that his dad did – Nick’s always been annoyed with Peter about his behaviour – and he reckons that Simon’s going to end up like his dad. Why should he have to pick up the pieces?
Are you enjoying playing this storyline?
Yes, as what we’re playing here are the emotions it brings to that family dynamic. If you’re playing it with long-established characters, then you can do things like this. There’s a lot in the news, there’s a lot about these kinds of things going on, it’s definitely very present.