Coronation Street star Jane Danson, who plays Leanne Battersby, appeared close to tears in an interview on This Morning as she spoke about Oliver’s heartbreaking storyline.
Jane has played Leanne on Corrie for 22 years, but will soon be facing one of her toughest storylines as her on-screen son Oliver will be diagnosed with mitochondrial disease.
Today (Monday, May 11), Jane appeared on This Morning to talk about the upcoming plot. She also explained the soap has been working with The Lily Foundation.
Coronation Street and The Lily Foundation
Speaking to Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, she said: “Storylines that I’ve had in the past have been kind of revolving around men, affairs and breakdowns, friendships, all that kind of thing.
“And this is an illness which is life limiting and it’s obviously involving a very small child. And lots of people are sadly going through this.
“So we spoke with a lady called Liz from The Lily Foundation and sadly her young child, her young baby, died from this condition.
“And she was really helpful in explaining what life was like for her, how she felt about the diagnosis.
“You know obviously at such a vulnerable age, she didn’t know how long this condition would last, how long it would go on for. She had two other children to look after.
“So we worked with her not just to talk about the medical side of things but just the human side of things.
Jane on portraying the storyline
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“My concern as an actress was portraying the truth and I know that sadly families are going through this. There isn’t a huge amount of knowledge and research to the public about what this condition involves.
“So given that Coronation Street has millions of viewers, it’s a great platform for the charities and the families that are going through this awful thing.
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As Jane spoke more in depth about her responsibility to tell the story, it became clear she was close to tears and her voice faltered.
She added: “But for me personally, it’s a huge responsibility to be truthful and tell the story with compassion and understanding and it’s really really upsetting and it’s not hard to really tell that story with the wonderful scripts and wonderful team that we’ve got.”
Coronation Street is on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7.30pm on ITV.
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