Coronation Street's Aggie Bailey, played by Lorna Laidlaw, made a mysterious exit from the Cobbles in summer 2023 – and no one was entirely sure why.
Now, Lorna made a podcast appearance and finally discussed her experience on the show. The soap nurse also added that she didn't always feel happy with the way she and the rest of the Bailey clan were written. Her grievances included accent requests, and a lack of on-screen chemistry between her and Ed Bailey (Trevor Michael Georges).
Lorna did not say she would be returning to thee soap, nor getting involved with the pregnancy of her on-screen daughter, Dee-Dee Bailey (Channique Sterling-Brown). However, she has a few projects outside of the show she's been getting involved with.
She sat down and recorded for the Chicken Soap for the Soul podcast, and discussed her time on the soap. Lorna said: “I think [the producers] wanted [the Baileys] to have Jamaican accents and I questioned that.
“I knew it wasn’t truthful. I said to them, ‘I would guarantee that all the actors you’ve auditioned don’t speak in a Jamaican accent because they were born here.’ I don’t understand why you give them a Jamaican accent because it makes you feel like they’ve just come here and it makes them that further apart from being rooted in Manchester or wherever you want them."
Lorna said she had an in-depth discussion with producers and let them know her opinion. They eventually relented, but it took many discussions. "Let them feel like they’ve been born and bred. Let them own this city just like everybody else. But I still got the job. So when we started, I had to do a Manchester accent.”
She also felt there were issues with on-screen intimacy between her and Ed. “Black love is a really big thing at the moment, and it is making sure that you see Black characters kissing, actually kissing. Those Black characters did not kiss.
“The one thing about this family is that they loved each other, but it is that conscious thing, because you don’t see it very often." Last year Aggie left the Cobbles with no explanation. It was later revealed on the soap that Aggie had gone to Birmingham to visit a sick aunt.
Later on she decided to end her marriage with Ed over the phone after learning of his gambling addiction. Lorna has made no comment about why she left and whether she wants to return.
Currently Lorna is taking a break after a long stint directing Th Wizard of Oz in Birmingham.
Coronation Street airs Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX
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