Filed in Sarah Harding

Sarah Corrie interview 1

SHE may only be making a small appearance on Coronation Street but former Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding is going to make sure her appearance on the soap will be memorable.
The 33-year-old pop star-turned-actress has revealed that her character Joni Preston will be getting into a heated argument with the Wetherfield’s resident villain Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford) and end up slapping her across the face.

The quarrel will be over Tracy’s ex-husband and Joni’s current other half Robert Preston, played by former Casualty star Tristan Gemmill. The two women will be set to lock horns after Joni follows her husband onto the cobbles after he returns to the street for Deirdre’s (Anne Kirkbride) funeral.

As viewers will have seen, Tracy and Robert quickly re-ignited their former passions after he admitted that he couldn’t stop thinking about her and the pair shared some steamy kisses before Ken Barlow (Bill Roache) caught them in the act.
Sarah said that her first day of filming on the Manchester-set soap was “nerve-wracking” because she had to shoot the argument and the slap with her co-stars and Kate and Tristan.

“It was a long day and there was a lot to learn I had to give her a good slap, every time they shouted cut I’d be giggling because Kate was so lovely. It was not a real slap, it as all choreographed to look nasty but I didn’t actually touch her!” Sarah said.

She went onto say that Joni would not “play second fiddle” to Tracy and said that with both hot-headed women in the same room “there are bound to be fireworks”.
Sarah has been filming scenes for four different episodes of the soap and her first scene will see her on the warpath as she goes to confront her husband over Tracy.

Speaking about Joni’s anger and surprise at Robert’s affair, she said: “It is a bit of a shock but she knows deep down he hasn’t ever got over Tracy. Joni has moved up with him to his restaurant but obviously he is still holding a torch for Tracy so I play a woman on the edge!

Sarah continued: “She is very vulnerable at the same time, she does come across as very angry and feisty but she is also hurting people have to remember that. If you catch your husband having an affair you would be wouldn’t you!”
“She is aware she is not living up to his ex wife’s memory. Then she meets her and she is less than impressed. She knows she is in someone else’s shadow, she is living a lie and trying to believe that he will fall in love with her. But once he meets up with Tracy again it is evident that isn’t going to happen.”

The singer is busy juggling her fledgling acting career with her solo music commitments as she prepares to release her first EP later this year with her first single coming in August.

Sarah trained as an actress when she was much younger and said that the two professions sat “side-by-side” for her and offer her different options in terms of her career trajectory.

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