A blast from the past is about to set Corrie’s Steve and Michelle McDonald’s marriage on a path to self-destruction, but there’s one person desperately fighting to keep them together – Kym Marsh.
Kym’s character Michelle will be reintroduced to her first boyfriend Will, played by Mr Selfridge’s Leon Ockenden, when she’s hired by his fiancee as their wedding planner.
Michelle and Will reunite when Saskia leaves them to plan the wedding (Mark Bruce/ITV)
With Steve (Simon Gregson) living happily in Spain without her and Michelle struggling under the weight of three businesses, she soon finds a shoulder to cry on in Will and finds her teenage feelings reignited.
But Kym said she’s as torn as Michelle over what to do about their unfinished business.
She said: “When I first heard about the story I thought, ’That is so not like her, why would she do that?’
“But she put up with all kinds of things (with Steve) and helped him through his depression. She was there for him and then he just went away to Spain and left her to it and has shown no signs of coming back or wanting to since.”
Steve is helping brother Andy out in Spain in the soap (ITV)
With Will, on the other hand, she said, “It’s the first time we see her opening up to anybody about how she is feeling about Steve… she just feels that she can offload this feeling that she has. He is very much there for her.”
But giving in to those feelings doesn’t come easy, as viewers will see when Will joins Coronation Street in April.
“She really, really does try everything to put things between them and stop anything from happening,” Kym said.
Now Kym is worried that this could mean the end for lovebirds Steve and Michelle.
Liz will begin to suspect there’s more between the two of them than just friendship (Mark Bruce/ITV)
She said: “This is soap and we know that couples hardly ever stay together. But there is always that worry and obviously I wouldn’t want them to split Steve and Michelle up permanently, but the writers do what they do and we do as we’re told and that’s it.”
The duo, who married on-screen in May 2015, have been compared to classic Corrie couple Jack and Vera Duckworth which Kym finds 'flattering'.
“It is really flattering to be thought about being anywhere near those kind of characters. It is wonderful. That is why we hope we don’t end up being split up but you just don’t know,” she confessed.
Kym hopes Steve and Michelle will become Street stalwarts like Jack and Vera Duckworth (Granada TV/PA)
Simon took a sabbatical from Corrie in October 2015 and is due to return in May, and Kym said she loved having her screen hubby back.
“I have missed Simon terribly and I’m so glad he’s back. Our first scene together when he came back we were both really excited – we’ve got a scene together! It’s like putting on a comfy pair of slippers.
“Every scene I’ve done with Leon I’ve been dressed in something really uncomfortable and I can’t sit down properly! Hold your belly in!” she laughed.
Watch to see what happens when Will joins the show in early April.
