Coronation Street’s Leanne Battersby manipulated by newcomer as cult story begins
Will Rowan's tactics pay off?
Coronation Street‘s Leanne Battersby will be manipulated by newcomer Rowan Cunliffe in upcoming scenes as her new cult storyline kicks off.
Leanne will first meet Rowan in Friday’s episode (March 15) of the ITV soap during a visit to the Chariot Square Hotel, where Rowan’s mysterious group The Institute is holding a self-help event.
While Leanne is initially taken aback when Rowan approaches her to offer some unsolicited advice, she’s soon charmed by him and begins to open up about herself.
In scenes airing on Monday (March 18), Leanne’s son Simon is pleased to see his mum and her fiancé Nick in a good place following recent tensions between them.
After Leanne reveals that Rowan’s sound advice helped her and Nick work through things, she agrees to join Simon for the next Institute meeting.
Following his next seminar, Rowan revels in Leanne and Simon’s compliments before expressing his hopes to see them again.
Later on, an enthusiastic Leanne tells Nick all about the seminar and how she found it inspirational. Are Rowan’s manipulative tactics starting to pay off?
Ben Price, who plays Nick, recently discussed the storyline while speaking with Digital Spy and other press, with the actor explaining that Leanne “becomes fully invested” in Rowan’s teachings.
“Usually Leanne is very good at stepping back and going: ‘I see what’s going on. I see I’m being played, I see what the situation is’. But she’s not with this. She’s convincing herself into this and she becomes fully invested,” he said.
“I think that’s the issue for Nick. He says: ‘You’re more cynical than me, Leanne. You’re not being very cynical about this man’.”
