Coronation Street star Ben Price has revealed that one character that ‘does his head in’ following a recent storyline.
The Nick Tilsley actor reflected on his character’s relationship with Simon Barlow (Alex Bain) following his car accident several weeks ago.
Simon was giving Sam Blakeman (Jude Riordan) a lift to his chess competition, but crashed the car when he lost control on a sharp bend.
He later confessed that he had been drink driving, much to Nick’s horror.
‘He’s a bit like his dad, does my head in,’ actor Ben Price pointed out. ‘He’s a bit like Peter isn’t he? It’s like Peter, a little Peter.’
Viewers will know that Simon’s dad Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne) was an alcoholic, which often caused problems for his family.
‘You’re just like, “yeah, don’t get in the car drunk. Don’t get in the car with anyone and haven’t we gone through this with your dad? And am I going to do it now with you?”
‘I just don’t like it. I don’t know, there’s a time when you’re like, “that’s not right. You’re an adult.”
‘So I think Nick’s got to the point where he’s not really wanting to listen to it anymore because he’s listened to his dad do the same thing. You know, Peter was exactly the same and Nick had to do the same with Peter. Nick was always saving Peter.’
Simon’s actions have caused trouble for Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson) and Nick in the past, and it certainly isn’t helping matters at the moment either.
‘He feels like they’ve been here before and he doesn’t want to make too much of it. But I think it’s that thing with Simon…
‘He’s sort of been the dad to Simon for quite a long time. And he feels like now Sam’s there, I suppose Leanne isn’t doing the same back.
‘So we’re seeing this kind of like, “well, hold on. I think you need to want to protect my son as well as yours”, so I don’t think he’s sure [about their relationship] but it’s not big enough yet to say “I don’t want to get married.” He does love her. He loves her.’
It is this attitude that could be set to cause a sticking point in their relationship, as Ben pointed out.
‘Simon still has Leanne and Peter’s gone off. So Sam just has Nick and the Platts. And he wasn’t there for his first 12 years or whatever, 10 years.
‘And I feel like Nick, anyway as a character sort of looks after that family in a way, not looks after but tries to hold it together. I think he feels like he needs to do that for his son, and not have whatever happened to Simon be repeated I think.
‘So I think it’s totally different now. I think he’s like, “look, I’ve got a unit and I’ve got a good family in the Platts. So I want to protect that.”‘
