'I was still a bit hormonal'
Coronation Street actress Julia Goulding, better known as Shona Platt, has revealed that she spent last Christmas in floods of tears.
Thankfully, they were happy tears, brought on by an adorable family Christmas tradition that she passed down to her then newborn son Franklin - her first child with teacher hubby Ben Silver.
Explains the 35 year old star: “Every single Christmas Eve for my whole life, my dad has read to me ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas.’ Him and his twin brother and older sister got given it by my grandparents when they were tiny.
"It’s a pop-up book, and he reads it to me and he does all the voices and everything.
"Last year, obviously we’d just had Franklin, and I read it to him on Christmas Eve. I was still a bit hormonal as I’d only had him four weeks previously, so I just cried all the way through.
“It’s such a big tradition for me, so to pass it onto my son was huge.”
Christmas 2019 was an altogether less joyful time for Julia’s character, Shona, who was shot by Derek Milligan and subsequently suffered brain damage after spending weeks in a coma.
This year, thankfully, there are much happier times ahead. Shona and husband David - who have had to get to know one another again due to her brain damage affecting her personality - are finally reunited after a few crossed wires. What’s more, they seal the deal by re-enacting their wedding.
Says Julia: “Shona’s been getting to know David, and liking the person that he is, and I think the miscommunication triggers her true feelings towards him.
"The threat of him being taken away from her helps her to discover that she actually does love him.
“The whole of the past year has been the run-up to this big shift in their relationship, and the new dawn, as it were.”
The romantic reunion is just one of many stories Corrie has lined up for the festive season, with other plots including Gary Windass being questioned about Rick Neelan’s murder, Peter Barlow’s health taking a turn for the worse and, on a happier note, Toyah and Imran fostering a baby.
Coronation Street continues on ITV (see our TV Guide for full listings).
