Coronation Street boss wants Sam and Hope to be next PJ and Duncan
There is a decade-long plan for the loveable pair!
Corrie boss Iain MacLeod has revealed the ITV soap has big plans for young characters Hope Stape (Isabella Flanagan) and Sam Blakeman (Jude Riordan).
Hope and Sam are currently good friends in Coronation Street and make an unlikely pair as Hope is a cheeky troublemaker, while Sam is more quiet and reserved. However, MacLeod has promised romance on the horizon.
The show's producer was appearing on ITV's Loose Women on Wednesday (15th February 2023), where he also spoke about an optimistic future for groomed teen Max Turner (Paddy Bever), teased the upcoming wedding of Daisy Midgeley (Charlotte Jordan) and Daniel Osbourne (Rob Mallard) and revealed Fiz Dobbs' temporary exit.
Asked about the path Hope has been on in recent years, MacLeod said: "She's certainly not going to continue going down such a troubled path in the short, to medium to long-term. We thought, actually, we've done some very dark and twisted things with that character, and that will still be part of her.
"But for the next 12 months, we're going to do normal, pre-teen stuff; we're going to be building a friendship with her and Sam, that will sort of verge on a really innocent, pre-teen romance. They try and navigate those waters, the first time you have a crush on somebody else."
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MacLeod added that, of course, as this is Hope we're talking about, it won't be quite as straightforward. But he was keen to point out that it's time to slow things down with the character as he praised star Flanagan.
"Yes, okay, it'll always have a Hope twist on it, because she's maybe wired a bit differently from most kids her age. She won't necessarily get help but we will see a more down-to-earth, grounded side of her.
"There's a risk with any character that's that brilliant - and Isabella's such a good actor as well - that you kind of burn them out by having them do too much big, crazy stuff; and if we're lucky, God willing, we'll have her for years and years to come. So it felt like actually, we can just take our foot off the gas a little bit, and just let her grow into a normal-ish teenage girl."
He concluded with news of the surprising inspiration behind Coronation Street's plans for Hope and Sam's bond - another iconic ITV pair!
"With Hope and Sam, we're taking as a kind of benchmark, PJ and Duncan - Ant and Dec. What if we can take these two kids that are like, 10, and grow them for a decade into this incredibly rich friendship? So that's what we're hoping to do.
"Obviously both those actors are so talented, they might well be on their way to Hollywood by the time they're 14! But if we can keep them, we'll try and PJ and Duncan them up!"
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