Coronation Street star Lorna Laidlaw breaks silence on clashes with soap bosses after secretly quitting soap
FORMER Coronation Street star Lorna Laidlaw has slammed the soap over its handling of her on-screen marriage after it was revealed she secretly quit the soap.
The actress – who played Aggie Bailey in the ITV soap – made her last appearance in the soap in June 2023 when she mysteriously vanished from screens.
And while Lorna has never said why she quit the soap, she has now broken her silence and revealed she clashed with soap bosses over Aggie never having romantic scenes with husband Ed Bailey.
She said: “Black love is a really big thing at the moment, and it is making sure that you see black characters kissing, actually kissing.
“I did a year, nearly two years in Corrie and those black characters did not kiss.”
Lorna joined the soap in 2019 shortly before the covid pandemic and filming restrictions meant that all filming was at 2m distance.
She added to the Chicken Soap For The Soul podcast to former Doctors co-star Elisabeth Dermot Walsh: “The writers didn’t write it.
“The one thing about this family is that they loved each other, but it is that conscious thing, because you don’t see it very often.
“It’s that you don’t think about it, and I’m going, ‘We need to see it, and it needs to be rooted in these soaps, that actually, these families are loving and they kiss and snog each other, just like all the other families’ and none of the writers wrote that.”
The star also revealed she clashed with bosses over her character’s accent even before she won the part.
She added: “I’m very honest, I am at the age now where something isn’t right then I’m going to say it.
“I think actors going in to things and it’s not right, I think you need to say before you go into it and then say ‘oh my God, this is not right’. Question it, question things. I think it’s really important.
“There were lots of little things. I think [the producers] wanted [the Baileys] to have Jamaican accents and I questioned that. I knew it wasn’t truthful.
“I said to them, ‘I would guarantee that all the actors you’ve auditioned don’t speak in a Jamaican accent because they were born here.
“I don’t understand why you give them a Jamaican accent because it makes you feel like they’ve just come here and it makes them that further apart from being rooted in Manchester or wherever you want them.
“So we had that discussion. There were lots of little discussions a bit like that. You know, some people had rehearsed in a Jamaican accent and I just said that I think it’s wrong.
“And if you’re going to give them a Jamaican accent then I don’t think I want to do it because it’s wrong for the character.
“If you bring grandparents in, that’s a different thing. You know, it’s a different thing. But this generation, my generation, this age group was born and bred.
“Let them feel like they’ve been born and bred. Let them own this city just like everybody else. That’s one of the things they changed. But I still got the job.
Coronation Street's 2024 shock exits
Corrie has said goodbye to several cast members this year. Let's break down who's left the famous soap:
Eliza Woodrow (Savannah Kunyo) has said farewell to Corrie to start a new life in Germany.
The youngster moved to live with her dad Dom Everett, who went back on the £10,000 bribe Eliza’s grandfather Stu had offered to keep him out of her life.
Paul Foreman (Peter Ash) will bow out of the soap this summer when he loses his fight with motor neurone disease (MND) in tragic scenes.
After being diagnosed last year, the fan favourite was devastated to learn he only had months left to live.
Viewers know he is planning to take his own life to end his suffering.
Summer Spellman (Harriet Bibby) departed the cobbles after being offered the opportunity of a lifetime to study in America.
Though she struggled to decide with her stepdad Paul’s impending death from MND, she was convinced she had to live her life to the full.
Simon Barlow (Alex Bain) has struggled with the sudden departure of his father Peter from the cobbles.
The Weatherfield legend left his family and loved ones behind on Boxing Day, 2023, when his wife Carla Connor encouraged him to travel around the world with a friend.
Simon’s been on a downward spiral ever since and his exit could end in tragedy.
Alya Nazir is set to leave the cobbles as actress Sair Khan prepares to go on maternity leave ahead of the birth of her first child.
It looks likely she’ll be heading to Dublin after securing a lucrative new job, leaving her colleague and fling Adam Barlow behind.
Show stalwart Sue Cleaver, who plays Eileen Grimshaw, is taking a break to star in the Sister Act The Musical UK tour. She will be back filming in May once her dates on the tour come to an end.
Her character left the Street after her son Jason broke his back after falling off a moped in Asia.
“So when we started, I had to do a Manchester accent. And it’s very difficult. I really did want her to be Brummy, I did push it but they would not have it.”
The Sun exclusively revealed how Lorna is set to return to screens after filming a stint on Channel Five drama The Good Ship Murder.