Claire Sweeney, an actress and singer from Coronation Street and Brookside, reflects on the groundbreaking soap’s heyday and tells her tales on screen and on the air.
Claire Sweeney is one of Britain’s most multi-talented stars — actress, singer and TV personality — whose rise from Liverpudlian butcher’s daughter to West End leading lady and soap favourite has made her a household name. She first appeared in Brookside as Lindsey Corkhill before conquering reality TV (Celebrity Big Brother, Dancing on Ice ) and musical theatre (including Chicago).
Today, Claire – who recently paid moving tribute to boxer Ricky Hatton following his death, after the pair briefly dated following their stint on Dancing On Ice, brings her wit, drama and charm to new audiences — and in this exclusive interview with OK!, reveals the defining moments behind her journey to fame – and the sliding doors moment that changed everything….
READ MORE: Cat Deeley stuns in perfect party season dress on This Morning – and it’s still in stock
Claire, growing up in Liverpool, balancing theatre school with working in your father’s butcher shop, what initially drew you to a career in entertainment?
I was obsessed with Fame, the TV show, like most 1980s kids at the time, but that’s just me. My mother was a barmaid, and my father was a butcher, and I started dancing before enrolling in stage school in Liverpool. There’s a teacher there — if you watch Benidorm, she was Johnny Vegas’s mum – who singled me out and said, “You can sing” and said, “Now, you need a thing called an equity card. You visit social clubs, sing in old people’s homes, or whatever else, gain knowledge and a credit card. And my father responded, “I can sort that out.”
Your dad was instrumental, wasn’t he?
Yes, he had a van and he’d go around all the pubs, open the back doors, flog meat out the back, right? So he decided to bribe the concert secretary of the Montro Social Club with a leg of lamb to let me sing. So that was my very first gig. He gave him a leg of lamb, let me sing, and I carried on from there. It was quite funny because every Christmas I got very, very busy, but there were lots of turkeys going in the back of clubs! God bless me dad. The only way he knew how to give me a step up was to give us meat.
How did Brookside and Coronation Street compare to reality television programs like Dancing on Ice and Big Brother?
Starting out — I started on cruise ships first as a singer, on summer seasons, pantos… And then got into Brookside, which was great for me. It’s so inconvenient in our business. Our travels are constant. You’re never in one place. I literally learned the art of acting on the job in order for me to be able to compete in my favorite TV show and to master the art of acting, which I had never done before. Then, to be working in one place every day and working alongside my idols, Barry Grant and Jimmy Corkill, was beyond joyous.
How did it come to be that you lived with your partner on the first season of Celebrity Big Brother in 2001?
I can recall being invited to the BAFTA Awards along with Brookside, and there was a Big Brother-style television program at the time. I never watched it. Reality TV didn’t exist at the time. There was nothing like that in the jungle or Strictly.
I was chatting to a guy at the next table and at the end of the night, a spotlight came on him. Everyone stood up and gave him a standing ovation and I thought it was me – it turned out it was director, Richard Curtis. He was in charge of Comic Relief and they were doing a Celebrity Big Brother for Comic Relief – Mel B had just dropped out. He phoned Brookside and said, “I met Claire at the BAFTAs. Would you like to do it?”
You did, and that chance meeting did, didn’t it open many doors? !
I did, and it changed everything. Given that it was all very kind at the time, I decided to leave Brookside and go to a house for two weeks. There was no one trying to stitch you up or get a headline. So I did that, then I left, and then my dream jobs arrived.
I thought, “This is simple,” after years of schlepping around clubs, summer months, and pantos, to suddenly spend two weeks in a house, drink tea, and then obtain all your dream jobs. It was such a great chance encounter.
You’ve starred in Britain’s most beloved TV dramas. What role stands out?
I grew up watching Coronation Street. So to be part of an iconic show — even this morning, I was filming a scene with Dame Maureen Lipman and walking on the cobbles – I still pinch myself every day.
Brookside, however, was revolutionary. Only four channels were present. Millions of people watched the soaps at the time. Additionally, producer Phil Redmond was cautious with his actions. With edgy plots, he was always ahead of the pack. So, the joy of both is very different. I count my blessings every day.
You also have well-known musical theater credits and are a well-known singer. What does music and the stage mean to you?
I enjoy performing musical theater. I’ll never get over my disappointment with Southport Youth Theatre, having to audition for the Hair, and not getting the part at all! I think Martha, whose mother made the teas, got the part. It’s been let go by me. But that was always my dream. Even when I was in Brookside, every year we’d do a Christmas concert and I’d get up and do all my Lloyd Webber stuff, all my show songs.
You left Brookside because of it, isn’t it?
Yes . I’d just turned 30 and I went to Phil Redmond and said, “Phil, I’m 30. I recently ended a six-year relationship. I need to go see a musical to fulfill my dream. And I auditioned for Chicago. I auditioned for Chicago for the role in Celebrity Big Brother shortly after leaving Brookside, and my career just exploded.
It was nice to go into Chicago and leave. When I do my cabaret, I talk all about that. I discuss my experiences with Patrick Swayze in Guys and Dolls and all the other shows over the years. Isn’t it nice, is it not? I feel very lucky.
You’ve always made a charitable contribution from your platform. Can you tell us about some of the charities you support?
Since I was a teenager, I’ve been a Claire House employee. I contributed to their teenage ward’s million-dollar fundraising effort. And recently, I’ve got involved with another charity which I hold very dear to my heart actually — Brinsworth House for the Royal Variety. I went there and sang there while contemplating, “I’m getting my name down here,” for all the old-timers performing. I’ll be staying here. This looks lovely”. singing Ladies Who Lunch while leaning on the piano.
I’ve lost a lot of my friends to AIDS, so I’ve always been a part of causes like the Terrence Higgins Trust. And I’ve been to Africa several times for Save the Children and Comic Relief. And that was a fantastic opportunity to see the real impact of the home-based money raised.
What is a memory from those African trips that you find most moving?
I remember going to Sierra Leone and it was all the kids who were affected — the gun soldiers. It’s amazing to be able to actually see the money that you can make when you’re at home and making a phone call to Comic Relief, which I’ve done myself many, many times over the years, and to actually go to Africa and see where the money is going.
Brinsworth means a lot to me, but I’m also a firm believer that charity can start at home as well. And I think there’s sometimes that disconnect between the money that we give and actually seeing the benefit of it to people.
Tabish Ali from the Champions Speakers organization conducted this exclusive interview with Claire Sweeney. For more information, visit champions-speakers. . uk
Source: Mirror
Leave a Reply