Carla Connor is to make her return to Coronation Street in next week's episodes, but will she be recovered from her recent mental health trauma? Underworld employee Sarah will be seen announcing to staff that Carla is coming back, but it soon becomes clear that Peter is still worried about her state of mind. Speaking recently to RadioTimes.com, actress Alison King revealed details about how her alter-ego will go about rebuilding her shattered life when she reappears on the cobbles:
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“She has gone to get help but will come back and it will be a slow journey of reconstructing her life. Carla needs to make big changes and not take on too much stress, she is still in a very insecure and paranoid place. The medication only helps so much and she needs to change her lifestyle.”
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Where has Carla been?
The character of Carla has been offscreen since Monday 3 June when she was moved to a specialist hospital in Carlisle to receive medical treatment following her breakdown. Viewers had seen the factory boss suffer a severe psychotic episode over the guilt she felt for the death of Rana Habeeb in the factory roof collapse.
Will Carla and Peter remain together?
Carla's partner Peter has been with her while she recuperates, but the pair's volatile on-off romance and his struggle at seeing her unwell saw the recovering alcoholic temporarily fall off the wagon. And yet despite their respective demons, King is sure that Peter and Carla can overcome adversity: “Will Peter be a help or a hindrance? I think Peter will help Carla,” she said.
What reaction has Alison King had to Carla's storyline?
King’s performance in Carla's psychosis episode – told partly from a paranoid point of view including a surprise appearance from Bhavna Limbachia as Carla’s vision of dead Rana – drew praise and the actress herself was pleased at the reaction:
“People that work in psychiatric health have been so positive, said it was spot on, and I’m pleased with that. I just wanted to make it real. I met a lady with psychosis through the charity Mind who was beautiful, she gave me lots of information and from that I tried to draw a thread all the way through Carla’s story.
“I hope it makes people talk about invisible illness, mental health and psychosis and how it can happen to anyone, even someone as strong as Carla. We need to talk about it more.”
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David Brown is Deputy Previews Editor at Radio Times, with a particular interest in crime drama and fantasy TV. He has appeared as a contributor on BBC News, Sky News and Radio 4’s Front Row and has had work published in the Guardian, the Sunday Times and the i newspaper. He has also worked as a writer and editorial consultant on the National Television Awards, as well as several documentaries profiling the likes of Lenny Henry, Billy Connolly and Take That.
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