Corrie: Jane Danson (Leanne Battersby)

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CORRIE GIRL'S 10 YEARS
Exclusive by Claire Donnelly 07/07/2007

IT'S a decade this weekend since she exploded on to Coronation Street looking like a cross between Ginger Spice and Vicky Pollard. Since then Leanne Battersby, the gobby girl with a mouth the size of Manchester, has done it all. Affairs, engagements, drug addiction, a doomed marriage, an abortion and too many family feuds to mention have made her one of the show's best-loved characters. For actress Jane Danson, who's lived and breathed Leanne's turbulent life, it's made for a rollercoaster decade.

"I can't believe it's been 10 years," she laughs. "Looking back at some of Leanne's outfits - oh my God, it's frightening. And that hair! She's matured a lot now - thank God. I've grown-up on screen as well as in real life." t's been a real journey for Leanne and Jane. The actress from Bury, Lancs, originally joined the show in the summer of 1997.

She left in 2000 to pursue other roles but after parts in hospital drama A & E and The Bill, she couldn't resist the pull of Weather-field and returned in 2004. And she's never regretted her decision - in fact, her controversial character has enjoyed some of the biggest storylines the cobbled streets of Corrie have seen.

"Leanne has changed in so many ways but deep down she's still the same - a few rough edges but vulnerable. People say she's a bitch, but she's not, she's a 'tart with a heart'. There've been times when I wanted to give her a shake but most of the time I feel affection for her."

But even Jane, 28, got a shock when she learned of Leanne's most sordid storyline yet, which saw her character dabble with prostitution. "Just when I thought it couldn't get it any worse for her, she came back as an escort!" she says. I didn't actually know what an escort was," she says. "At first, I thought 'good for her'. I thought it was someone who just got paid for their company - not to go the whole hog. It was only when I started talking about it, that someone pointed out what was actually involved. I was mortified! Leanne, selling herself! I mean, she's done some terrible things but this was taking it to another level."

Although the dramatic storyline presented Jane with a fantastic challenge, it also gave her cause for concern. "I was scared people would be coming up to me when I was out walking with the pram and saying rude things. Thankfully it hasn't been like that."

Fortunately, loudmouth Leanne is set to shock viewers one last time - in a good way - by going straight this week and reinventing herself as a respectable businesswoman. The reformed prostitute will prove critics wrong when she gives up life on the game to open a pizza restaurant in Monday's episodes. "Now Leanne is getting herself sorted," says Jane. "And about time too!" As her character goes from strength to strength, Jane has good reason to smile too. When the scenes are aired, she'll be celebrating some milestones of her own - the tenth anniversary of her arrival on the street and son Harry's first birthday.

Married to actor Robert Beck, 36, they were overjoyed at becoming parents last year. As she chats proudly about son Harry's new teeth, good appetite and walking skills, it's clear Jane is very much the proud mum. And she feels lucky to be a parent at all. Worried that her polycystic ovary syndrome could have made it hard to conceive, Jane was stunned to find out she was pregnant as she put the final touches to her wedding. "We planned to have children soon after we married but it happened sooner than we imagined," she giggles. "When we married we already knew so it made it more of an amazing day. "We were blubbering wrecks! It could have been difficult or taken a long time. So we felt blessed when it happened so quickly." Despite a difficult labour - she had to be induced after suffering a liver condition - she was back in shape weeks after Harry arrived. Feeding him myself and running round after him helped the weight come off," she explains. "I only had a stone to go but I lost too much really. I've put on a few pounds again now and I feel much better."

When Harry was just six months old, Jane was back at work but leaving him at home was harder than she imagined. "I was very raw," she says. "I came back to such a massive storyline and it was a lot of work. I was leaving before Harry got up and getting home after he went to bed. I thought 'how am I going to do all this?' Then you look around at your colleagues and you realise 'she's doing it', she's got three kids' and slowly you get your confidence back. In an ideal word I would like to spend more time at home. But I had six great months of being absolutely devoted to him and that's more than a lot of people have. I ring home whenever I can. This week has been fantastic. I've been able to go home in the afternoons and spend quality time with Harry. So I can't complain, can I?"

And with a final smile, the actress behind one of soap's craziest characters, is off - to plan her son's first birthday party.

JANE PICKS HER MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS FROM TV'S TOP SOAP..

1997
BATTERSBYS JOIN THE STREET

Look at my hair here! And those pants! I was so excited but nervous to be joining this huge show.

1998
MARRIED TO NICK TILSLEY

We had fun filming this. Adam Rickitt and I were very different but we really got on. Girls always asked me what it was like kissing him!

1999
PULLING PINTS BEHIND THE BAR

This brings back great memories. Denise Welch, who played Natalie, and I were mates and still are.

2000
LEFT FOR DEAD IN THE ROVERS

This was brilliant fun to do. After working on the set for so long, I had a laugh smashing it all up! Even I was scared of Jez Quigley.

2004
HAVING A GO AT BELLY DANCING

It's not every day you go belly dancing in Weatherfield, is it? Manchester doesn't have the weather for it.

2004
FIGHTING WITH MARIA

There's nothing like a good cat fight and Samia Smith - who plays Maria - and I really decided to let rip on this one!

2005
AFFAIR WITH DANNY BALDWIN

There's real chemistry here. But it's hard to do lots of kissing when Bradley Walsh makes you laugh all the time.

2007
WORKING AS AN ESCORT

I was terrified about how the public would react to Leanne working as an escort but no-one seemed to bat an eyelid.

2007
DATING LIAM CONNOR

People ask whether Leanne will get back with Liam. Will they end up together? I honestly don't know.

2007
KIDNAPPED BY PAUL CONNOR

It was exciting to film. I had to be actually bundled into the boot - luckily it was all over quite quickly and I'm not claustrophobic!

'I knew nothing about escorts'

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[alan1254]

quite like her she plays the more extreme scenes very well , glad they are making her 'straight' otherwise her charictor would have nowhere to go but down , and its not far fetched many prostitutes make money then go into regular business and often succeed as they learn a lot about life and people in that job

[pirtybirdy]

She plays a feckin' tart very well on Corrie 'cause she is one in real life.....Just kiddin'. She seems like a good egg. ;-)

[Kezza]

Great read -- thanks for the post.

[Twirley]

I like Jane Danson as an actress...and her character Leanne is never dull, that's for sure. There are so many more storylines in her.

Oh, and her hubby is scrumptious. He used to be in Brookside and Emmerdale.

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Jane Danson: I'd love to be on Corrie for YEARS
EXCLUSIVE I'VE HAD FLINGS, DONE DRUGS, BEEN A VICE GIRL AND USED SIX OF MY NINE LIVES, BUT STILL.. STREET WILDCHILD LEANNE BATTERSBY GROWS UP
By Sue Crawford,
sundaymirror.co.uk
23/03/2008

It's hard to believe but Coronation Street wild child Leanne Battersby is almost 30. She burst on to the cobbles more than 10 years ago with too much make-up, too much attitude and too little respect. Since then she's had flings with married men, became addicted to hard drugs and even had a spell working as a prostitute. And while actress Jane Danson still loves playing her character, she admits she's shocked that both she and Leanne are approaching the big three-oh.

"I'm gutted!" she says. "I've really loved my 20s, and 30 just sounds old. My mum tells me it's the best stage of your life. She loved being 30, so I'll try to look forward to it...but at the moment I'm finding it hard. I was 18 when I joined Coronation Street and I can't believe that I'll actually be 30 in November."

It's hard to imagine Leanne all grown up too, although viewers have seen a more mature side to her recently. After taking over Valandros Italian restaurant she has spent every waking hour there, trying to make a success of the place. That has meant fewer dramatic storylines than usual, with no scenes anywhere other than inside the restaurant. Yet for Jane the quiet spell came at a time when she needed it most. Sadly her dad Jack was diagnosed with cancer last July, and he died at home in February, aged just 62.

"It was an absolute blessing that I wasn't working long hours," says Jane. "We had a really difficult six months and if I'd had a major storyline it would have taken up so much time. Fortunately I had the time to do the hospital runs when Dad had appointments, and go and get prescriptions and just be there for him and spend that time with him. And thankfully he was at home with all his family and that meant a lot to him."

We are here to talk about Jane's upcoming storyline, where Leanne tires of her long hours and lack of profits and decides to burn the restaurant to the ground for the insurance money. Though she briefly took time off after her dad's death, she returned to filming the crucial scenes after just a week away. "It's still really raw, but having said that, it's probably a good time to get back into work," she explains. When you are at work you compartmentalise things. I still have my moments - I cried driving in to work today - I heard a sad song on the radio and that set me off, but work does take my mind off it for a while. Also, lots of the cast have had similar experiences and can relate to how I'm feeling, and talking about it has helped me. They're a good crowd and we pull together in a crisis."

Jane, who grew up in Bury, Lancashire, has always been close to her family. Her mum Lynne is a retired care worker, her older brother Paul, in mechanic, and her a older sister Alison, a full-time mum. There are no actors in the family, but when jane was bitten by the drama bug at the age of 10 it was her dad, a buider, who took her to auditions. "He drove me everywhere," Jane says proudly. "He was just amazing and always there for me and my brother and sister. Without a doubt I definitely wouldn't be here in Coronation Street if it wasn't for him."

"He was never pushy, but he always encouraged me to try. He was immensely proud when I joined Coronation Street, but he saw it for what it was and never got involved in the glitzy showbizzy side of it. He kept me grounded. He taught me about setting money aside and not splashing out for the sake of it. If he ever did think I was getting a bit too big for my boots, he'd bring me back down to earth. "

With her parents' support Jane broke into television at the tender age of 11, alongside Julie Walters and Michael Palin in the black comedy GBH, by Alan Bleasdale. After parts in children's TV dramas, she appeared in the period drama The Grand. Then in 1997, when she was 18, she was invited to play Leanne Battersby, eldest daughter of a rowdy new family joining the Street.

Three action-packed years saw Leanne marry Nicky Tilsley (played by teen heart-throb Adam Rickitt) then descend into cocaine addiction and flee the Street to escape her drug debts to evil dealer Jez Quigley. In fact when Jane left in 2000 she joined ITV medical drama A&E, before appearing in The Bill as its first-ever lesbian policewoman, WPC Gemma Osbourne. Four years later Corrie called and asked if she would like to return.

Jane jumped at the chance - reappearing as an exotic dancer in a seedy Manchester bar. Jane says: "Leanne doesn't set out to hurt other people and usually ends up hurting herself. But she's a loose cannon and she's destined to end up in a really bad way. I wonder how long she can keep picking herself up and dusting herself down - she's probably had six of her nine lives by now!"

She comes close to losing another with her latest shady plan - she manipulates love-struck business partner Paul Duckworth to torch the restaurant for her. Unknown to Paul, Leanne has started dating bookie Dan Mason. To seduce Paul into going ahead with the arson, she flirts with him while playing it cool in public with Dan, even slapping him in front of everyone in The Rovers.

"That was really horrible!" Jane recalls. "When we shot the scenes I obviously wasn't really supposed to hit him, but by accident I really clouted him. I was so upset about it I fluffed all my lines afterwards and we had to do it all again. Matt Crompton who plays Dan is about 6ft 4in, so I'm surprised I even reached him. There was a really big red hand print on his face. I felt awful."

When she isn't hitting Dan, the couple are embarking on a steamy romance and according to Jane those scenes are even more embarrassing to film. "Whatever show you work on, you always seem to film the kissing scenes right at the beginning," she says. "So me and Matt didn't really know each other very well and suddenly we have to snog each other's faces off."

In real life Jane is happily married to actor Robert Beck and the couple have a 20-month old son Harry. They met at the British Soap Awards in 1999. But Jane, who was just 20 at the time, had secretly had a crush on the good-looking actor since watching him as Peter Harrison in Brookside when she was 13.

"The nine years have gone so quickly, but we've been through so much together that I can't really remember my life without him now," Jane says. Since we've had Harry, we don't go out very much any more, but then we don't want to. Occasionally we get my mum over to babysit, but we're quite happy with our little family - it sounds really dull, but we like it."

The couple live just outside Manchester and when Jane is working, Robert looks after Harry. "He's a jobbing actor and he's just going through one of those periods when things are a bit quiet," Jane says. "It's a kind of role reversal, but hopefully he'll get a great job soon." Living close to the Coronation Street set means Jane can see a lot of her baby son, and despite spreading her wings in her 20s she now has no plans to leave the show again.

"For an actor with children it's the perfect job," she says. "Nine times out of 10 I go home every night in time to give Harry a bath and put him to bed. There are times when I think I'd like to do a great play or be somebody really different, but Coronation Street is a lovely job and Leanne is such a fascinating character - I could never imagine getting bored with her. Obviously my destiny is in somebody else's hands and I could easily become a casualty of a storyline, but if it was down to me I could quite easily imagine still being here in 20 or 30 years time."

[tec]

Great article thanks for posting it. I do like Leann's character a lot. Like others glad to see her character moving upward in the storyline plots rather than continued downward spiral.

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‘If my husband cheated on me we’d be over’
Jane Oddy
6th March 2010
mirror.co.uk

As feisty Leanne Battersby, Jane Danson is in the middle of one of Corrie’s most gritty storylines – a terrifying scenario that strikes a chord with the mum of two. Corrie stalwart Jane has been embroiled in the drama surrounding reformed alcoholic Peter Barlow, played by Chris Gascoyne, and the unimaginable happens this week when his son Simon disappears.

With two little boys of her own – Harry, three and one-year-old Sam – the prospect of losing one of her own is horrific. “You can’t imagine how it would feel,” says Jane, 31. “It’s a situation you never want to find yourself in. Both Chris and I are parents and we found the storyline quite distressing,” she says. “The scenes were heavy but I managed to switch off from them, it’s the way I work but I did feel emotionally drained.”

Luckily for Jane, she has plenty of help at home. Juggling her intense work schedule with looking after two children could be a challenge but her husband, former Emmerdale star Rob Beck, 41, has agreed to take the hit career-wise to look after the kids.

“He is Daddy Day Care,” grins Jane. “I’m lucky that Rob is an actor who has taken a sideways step for a while and put is career on hold because of the kids. “He used to do a lot of touring and theatre but that’s not ideal with two young children and the hours I do sometimes. So for the past couple of years, even though he is itching to work, he has put his career on the backburner.

“At the moment, dare I say it, I’m the one with the more secure job so it’s a no-brainer. But as an actor, you never lose that desire to get out there and do it. It’s great to have a partner who understands my job and gives me his opinion.” Rob’s support has been invaluable in the past few years. Just after the birth of Sam in February last year, she suffered a bout of baby blues.

This, Jane says, was largely down to the death of her beloved dad Jack at just 62, shortly before she got pregnant with Sam. “I suppressed a lot of grief when I was pregnant,” she explains. “So when Sam was born I did feel down. He wasn’t well with silent reflux, which is basically heartburn, for a couple of months. You get upset and frustrated because you don’t know what’s going wrong and I was aware I didn’t feel as happy as I should have. A lot of it was that my dad had only been dead a year. A lot had happened in that time – I’d lost him, got pregnant, had a baby and moved house, so it was an accumulation of things.”

And Jane says she’d always had a close bond with her dad, who was a builder. “I was desperately close to him. He had cancer and between diagnosis and him dying it was six months, so it was no time at all. He was only 62. But we are going to make sure the boys know all about him and the lovely thing is that my baby Sam really looks like him. That is quite a comfort.”

The knowledge that Sam will never get to know his grandad Jack is something that Jane does get upset about. “The hole never goes away, that gap is never filled. When you’ve had the baby, you think ‘He won’t see him’ and all that kind of thing.”

At the moment though, little Harry is confused by Jane’s relationship with actor Bill Roach and seems to think Corrie’s Ken Barlow is his grandfather. “He thinks Ken Barlow is his grandad because he sees me alongside Bill so often,” Jane laughs. “He must associate them somehow which is funny because Bill looks nothing like my dad did.”

And as much as she adores her boys, Jane is adamant she won’t be having any more children. “I don’t think so,” she laughs. “Never say never – but never! In all honesty the reason why I think two is enough is that there aren’t enough hours in the day as it is. If we had another one, I don’t think I’d have time to do anything.”

That, Jane says, is the reality of life as young parents and so keeping things romantic in her 11-year relationship isn’t her top priority. But the happy couple are often asked their secret. “How do we keep the ­romance alive? We don’t!” she laughs. “But I still think he’s gorgeous. He’s so easy going. I don’t know what the secret is, we just get each other. We talk a lot and although we don’t necessarily agree on the same things, we understand each other.

“Somebody said to me the other day a friend of theirs shook hands with her husband and said: ‘See you in six years.’ It made me laugh because it’s so true – in those early years it’s all about the kids.” Jane is good friends with her Corrie co-stars and the new mums on set often turn to her for advice. “I’m really close to Samia Smith [Maria Sutherland] and Julia Haworth [Claire Peacock]. Samia and Ali King [Carla Connor] live just down the road from me. When you’re feeling a bit vulnerable you help each other out. Because I had a baby a couple of years before the others I have been able to give advice.

“Now we’ve all had our babies, I’m not the only one having sleepless nights, we’re all in the same boat. You never get any sleep and you’re so tired. Ours are so tiny at the moment they need constant stimulation and attention. Our lives revolve around them.”

And despite her happy marriage and family life, Jane insists she wouldn’t tolerate cheating from Rob after reading recent headlines about humiliated celebrity wives standing by their men. “Every case is different, but for me, I would find it very difficult to trust again,” she says. “I understand that it’s universal and happens to people in the public eye and people who work down the local bank, but for me, that would be it. I’m not that forgiving. I would especially feel my children had been cheated on as well and I feel very strongly about it. It is easy to say, but when there are children involved it might be a very different situation. But right now my initial reaction would be: ‘That’s it. End of.’”

And Jane has high hopes for the other relationship in her life – she wants former prostitute Leanne and bad boy Peter to go the distance as one of Corrie’s solid couples. “I’d like to see them do the whole thing,” she says, “get married and everything. But with Peter’s problems, he might put a spanner in the works. Her relationship with Peter will never be straightforward because they’ve both got baggage but the good thing is they get each other.”

[faceless]

'I'd never thought I'd forgive cheating - but now I'm not so sure'
Olivia Buxton,
Daily Mirror,
16th April 2011

On bringing home the bacon, infidelity, and handing over the remote control..

Busy Jane gets a lot of support from her husband, actor Robert Beck, 40. The couple, who have been together for 12 years and married five, have come up with a system that works for them. Jane goes out to work while Rob – who has also appeared in Coronation Street – is a stay-at-home dad. “It’s against the norm of the mum staying at home and the dad going out to work,” she says. “But Rob doesn’t feel emasculated. For now he is happy to be the main carer for the kids, and he’s a brilliant dad. The acting industry dictates to you when you do and don’t work, and at the moment I’m the one with the more regular job. But that could all change if Rob gets a role.”

After being immersed in a storyline hooked around infidelity for the past few months, has Jane given any thought to how she would react if Rob cheated on her? “Before I filmed this I was like, ‘If anybody cheated on me, that would be it’. But knowing that she was desperate for forgiveness made me think, ‘Why did she do it? Why did she want Peter back?’ In their situation, where a child is involved and she wanted to salvage the relationship, not everything is black and white.

“I hope I never find myself in that situation but in any marriage you have got to keep communicating and growing together. I don’t forecast a massively happy marriage for Leanne and Peter. They might be together for a while, but I don’t think it will be without its ups and downs.”

So, from someone who obviously knows some tricks to maintaining a happy relationship, what’s the secret? “Allowing Rob command of the remote control and letting him watch football has probably been the key!” she laughs.

On being known as a goody-two-shoes, getting led astray and peach schnapps..

After blasting her way on to the cobbles in the form of Leanne Battersby as part of one of Corrie’s rowdiest ever clans, Jane Danson proved right away that she could pull off the chav factor. Her screeching in the street, cat fights in the gutters and dramatic descent into prostitution and drug abuse made an unforgettable impact.

Now, nearly 14 years after arriving in Weatherfield, the lovely Leanne has settled down, got married and become stepmum to the adorable Simon Barlow. But unlike her on-screen alter ego, it seems that Jane herself never dabbled in wildchild antics. In fact, she’s worried that people think she is dull. “I would like to set the record straight,” she declares. “Vicky Entwistle, who plays my stepmum Janice, said in an interview how she adored me but that I was a ‘goody-goody’. She said she had a proud motherly moment when she got me drunk on peach schnapps after years of trying. She made it sound like I’d never had a drink. People must have thought, ‘God, she really is dull – and she drinks peach schnapps!’ I’m not Mrs Square Pants. We’ve gone down different roads – I have kids and Vicky is more of a party animal!”

On panda eyes, getting thin and hating high definition..

Relaxing is something Jane doesn’t get much time to do. With two young kids to keep her on her toes and a hectic work schedule, the hard work has been taking its toll. So much so that fans have expressed their concern that the actress is getting too thin. “It is upsetting, but I am not trying to be thin and I am not starving myself,” she says. “I have two young children and I’m running around like a lunatic half the time. I’m up very early for filming and I’ve had some pretty big storylines to deal with.”

Indeed she has. In just a matter of months her character Leanne has married recovering alcoholic Peter Barlow at his hospital bedside after he was almost crushed to death in Corrie’s 50th anniversary tram crash, then she rekindled her affair with her ex, Nick Tilsley, got caught out and humiliated on her second wedding day, before finally winning Peter back. Phew!

“The filming schedule has been really gruelling,” says Jane, who has been nominated for Best Actress at the British Soap Awards next month. That’s why I look tired and drawn on screen. I look like a panda with these great black circles around my eyes. It’s like I could have been punched in the face! The other night I watched Corrie in HD but I saw how tired I looked and I switched it back to the normal channel – I hate it!

“The last time I was this thin was when my son Sam was diagnosed with silent reflux – a painful condition that is similar to heartburn – and I was really stressed out. I was eating but I was running about and the baby weight just dropped off. I went back to work after five months and it was hard juggling two kids, but I put on weight when things started to calm down. I’m back to eight stone now, and a few people have commented on my size, saying things like, ‘Ooh, she looks a little bit thin’.”

On motherhood, the Corrie baby club and Street pal Kym Marsh’s good news..

Family is obviously a major focus for Jane, 32. While many soap stars get itchy feet after such a long stint in one job, she is happy to stay where she is while the kids – Harry, four, and two-year-old Sam – are still little. “I have different responsibilities now I’m a mum,” she says. “I have the children to look after. While they are so young I wouldn’t like to be travelling all over the country, and having a steady and secure role means I get to tuck them into bed almost every night. That means a lot.”

And knowing how precious her own children are, Jane was delighted to hear her friend and co-star Kym Marsh gave birth to a little girl Polly last month, after losing her baby boy Archie when he was born prematurely in 2009. “I am so relieved everything went well,” she says. “I’ve not been to see Kym yet but given what she’s been through, it’s probably best to let her do a bit of bonding and nesting first. I’m sure little Polly is beautiful.”

And with so many young mums all in one place, Jane reveals how they have set up a ‘going out’ club to ease the demands of juggling motherhood and the Street. “It’s usually me, Samia Smith, Alison King, Julia Haworth, Jenny Platt and Tina O’Brien. Hopefully we’ll get Kym out later in the year. It’s great to let our hair down.”

To vote for Jane and Coronation Street, which has been nominated for Best British Soap, go to www.britishsoapawards.tv