Corrie: Rachel Leskovac

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Rachel Leskovac: I’m worried I’ll get the chop...
Corrie stylist Natasha’s fling with bad boy Tony is set to bite the dust. Here, soap star Rachel reveals her fears that her role could go the same way, and how she dropped four dress sizes after becoming a mum.
By Olivia Buxton
23/05/2009
mirror.co.uk

Everyone is worried about their jobs these days – and even top TV stars aren’t immune. Coronation Street actress Rachel Leskovac – who has played sexy crimper Natasha Blakeman for the past year – is currently involved in one of the ITV show’s hottest storylines but that hasn’t stopped her fearing the worst.

In scenes to be screened next week evil factory boss Tony Gordon sensationally dumps the attractive hairdresser and turns his full attentions to her friend Maria Connor (Samia Smith). But despite her success, Rachel – like everyone else in the country right now – is nervous her job might bite the dust, too.

“Everything has been going great guns but something might happen and then I might not be part of the soap any more,” Rachel, 32, admits. “This show certainly keeps you on your toes. I have a three-year contract, that is made up of a series of options. It’s different for everyone but for me it’s every six months, so I’ll know at the end of this month if it’s going to be extended. It does make me feel nervous. I do feel much more settled now than when I joined the soap but I never take anything for granted in this profession.”

Rachel Leskovac as Kelly Yorke in Holby City

Rachel – who made her name as psycho killer nurse Kelly Yorke in Holby City – joined the soap a year ago as the new stylist in Audrey’s hair salon. But bosses only ramped up her plotlines earlier this year, concocting a disastrous date with Steve McDonald and a passionate fling with Tony.

“When I first joined I was covering for Maria, who was recovering from a miscarriage,” says Rachel. It could easily have ended there and for a while my role was just to make small talk in the salon with the customers. I think the bosses were thinking, ‘Where is this character going to go? She’s not related to anyone and isn’t in a relationship.’ Luckily, they seemed keen to develop my character and I was made up when I read a script and saw my character had a surname – everyone always says if you get a surname then your character is here to stay. Then when Kim Crowther (the show’s producer) told me my character was going to have an affair with Tony, I screamed out ‘Yes!’”

But for Rachel, filming the bedroom scenes with Gray O’Brien, 40 – who won Villain of the Year at the British Soap Awards for his portrayal of Tony – proved daunting. “I was nervous about my love scenes but these kind of things are always a bit awkward,” she explains. “My last screen kiss was with Hugh Quarshie (Ric Griffin) in Holby and that was years ago. But Gray was brilliant – he was very gentlemanly and kept asking if I was alright when we had to kiss. He is very professional but doesn’t take himself seriously and has a great sense of humour.”

Getting involved with the Street’s psycho was always going to end in tears and Tony is now focusing his attentions on the pregnant Maria, who has secretly fancied him for some time. Telling Natasha he had a business meeting, Tony helped Maria build a cot for her baby. Last night, viewers saw Natasha hurt when she found out that he had lied to her. It is the beginning of the end for the pair.

But Rachel’s real-life man is Tony’s opposite. She’s been with her husband, David Tench, for 11 years, since meeting at the Liverpool Institute Of Performing Arts. “We met in our early 20s when we were studying and we had this amazing chemistry,” Rachel says. “I love that we have been together all that time and it feels like I have always been with him. OK, I might not have done that whole Sex And The City dating thing but I don’t feel I’ve missed out. I feel very relieved and lucky to have met the right person when I did.”

The couple, who now live in St Albans, Hertfordshire, got married in David’s hometown of Rainford, South Yorkshire, in January 2005 and their happiness was cemented by the arrival of their daughter, Macy Blossom, in April 2007. “I can’t believe my little baby is two,” Rachel laughs. “It’s amazing. She is very good most of the time but she does have typical toddler tantrums. I do have that guilt thing of being a working mum. But I think it’s important to be happy within yourself and confident with what you’re doing so you are a positive role model for your child.”

With the recent baby boom at Corrie – Samia (Maria) recently announced her pregnancy, Alison King (Carla Gordon), Wanda Opalinska (Wiki Dankowska) and Jane Danson (Leanne Battersby) have all had babies and Jack P Shepherd (David Platt), Ryan Thomas (Jason Grimshaw) and Andrew Whyment (Kirk Sutherland) have all become dads – is Rachel thinking about adding to her brood?

“It is ridiculous the amount of people who have become pregnant since I joined the show,” she laughs. “Everyone jokes there is a seat in the green room you shouldn’t sit on or maybe that there is something coming through the air con or is in the tea. As for me, I have no plans to have any more just yet. At the moment I think the three of us work fine.”

Since giving birth to Macy, Rachel has managed to drop an incredible four dress sizes. “At my biggest I was a size 16 and now I’m a size 8,” she says. “I was never into fitness before becoming a mum but when I had Macy I thought, ‘I’m going to need a lot of energy to do this’ so I started running. I love it – it’s good both physically and mentally.”

However, Rachel admits that there is real pressure to stay slim in her industry. “I have definitely felt it in the past and I did try various diets like the Atkins but all I can remember thinking is, ‘Do I have to eat another fry- up?’ It’s not something I’d do again.”

Bradford-born Rachel reveals she was initially self-conscious about her post-baby figure, a fact that came into play when she first went up for a part in Coronation Street. “At first, I was approached to play a different character in Corrie and Macy was only six months old at the time,” Rachel reveals. “The part they wanted me to play was the younger sister of Rover’s barmaid Violet. But when I found out that she was supposed to have been working abroad in a nightclub as a cage dancer I was like, ‘I’ve just had a baby, I’ve got a wobbly tummy!’ The part was not conducive to having had a baby and, funnily enough, I didn’t get it. But it was a good meeting and the bosses were very positive and said: ‘We’d love to have you on the Street – it’s just a case of finding a role that suits.’”

Rachel loves the part that she eventually won and even enjoys being stopped in the street by fans of the hit ITV soap. “I was paying for my shopping recently at the supermarket and this woman at the till said, ‘What are you doing with Tony? He’s awful – you are far too nice for him’. It’s been a brilliant storyline and a great part to play – now all I can do is hope it continues.”