Coronation Street star Julia Goulding has spoken out about the mixed fan reaction to her character Shona Platt's brain injury story.
Shona was shot by Derek Milligan on Christmas Day and as a consequence suffered a serious injury that caused her to lose her memories, including all recollection of her husband David Platt (Jack P Shepherd) and their family, and to exhibit slightly different personality traits.
The actress revealed that she has had "a lot of reaction" to the change in Shona's character, with fans slightly divided on whether they like the 'new Shona' more or not as she tries to reconnect with David.
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"People like what they know and they know what they like," she said. "It's been slightly jarring for some people, others have been incredibly supportive. Some people love the new Shona and her bluntness, some just want the old Shona back.
"It's been mixed but it's early days so I really hope the audience will fall back in love with her, like David will as well. Obviously it seems like she's just being really nasty at the moment, but she's not – it's all because of the brain injury. I hope the audience like her and what I'm doing with the character in terms of acting as well."
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But whatever the audience thinks, Julia is having a great time portraying the changes in Shona, saying that it has been "a lot of fun" to explore a new side to her character.
"Obviously it's very rare for an actor to be able to play a completely different character in a long-running soap," she said. "It's been fabulous, but at first it was really difficult. We did lots of research and spoke to people from the Christchurch Group about the specifics of Shona's brain injury.
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"However, there isn't a set list of symptoms. There are a list of symptoms but they are very malleable and some may be more extreme than others. So we did a lot of work and research into it. The writing has been fantastic.
"At first she remembered absolutely nothing. During lockdown, Shona got to know David and the family a lot more. Now it's really fun. It's the fun stuff, she has no filter on her at the moment and that can get her into all kinds of trouble. As serious as the situation and her injury is, we are able to have some fun with it too."
Julia added that she is still getting used to playing the 'new' Shona, revealing that she might end up enjoying playing her even more over time.
"The essence of who she is, is still there," she said. "So we are starting to see more of the old Shona come through, but obviously with no filter. It's weird because we are now living in this 'new normal' world post lockdown, and I'm kind of getting used to the 'new normal' Shona as well, if that makes sense.
"I'll probably end up liking playing 'new Shona' better because she's a bit more scrappy, she's a bit more fun."
Julia also revealed that she'd like to see Shona's imprisoned son Clayton Hibbs again and to explore their relationship a little more.
Coronation Street currently airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7.30pm on ITV.
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