Coronation Street spoilers follow.
Coronation Street star Ben Price has explained Nick Tilsley’s wedding doubts.
Viewers have seen Nick admitting to his family that he’s having second thoughts about marrying Leanne Battersby, after seeing how she covered up Simon’s car crash.
Speaking to Digital Spy and other media, Ben Price admitted Nick is “not sure at all” about his future with Leanne since the car crash put his son Sam Blakeman in danger.
“He feels like they’ve been here before and he doesn’t want to make too much of it. But Nick has been the dad to Simon for quite a long time,” the actor said. “And he feels like now Sam’s there, I suppose Leanne isn’t doing the same back.
“So we’re seeing this attitude of, ‘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 but it’s not big enough yet to say, ‘I don’t want to get married.’ He does love her. He loves her.”
At the heart of the dispute is Nick’s reluctance to forgive Simon for initially trying to avoid his responsibility for the crash.
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Ben explained: “Simon is a bit like his dad and does Nick’s head in! He’s a bit like Peter isn’t he? He’s like a little Peter. Nick is just like: ‘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.’ 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 Simon’s dad do the same thing.
“You know, Peter was exactly the same and he had to do the same with Peter. He was always saving Peter. He does it with his own family. He does it to the Platts. But Simon and Peter are Barlows and Nick has had enough.”
This fractured dynamic has only increased since young Sam doesn’t have a mother he can turn to anymore.
“Simon still has Leanne and Peter’s gone off somewhere,” Ben said. “So Sam just has Nick and the Platts. And Nick wasn’t there for his first 10 years or whatever. Nick as a character looks after his family in a way and tries to hold it together.
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“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.'”
In upcoming scenes, Nick will feel indecisive about his future with Leanne after she attends a wedding fair and encourages him to set a date for the ceremony.
“He’s not too happy about it,” the actor admitted. “One, it’s going to cost a fortune and two, he’s like, ‘Could we just slow this down a bit and it not be too soon or too quick? It’s going to cost me a lot of money and I’m still not sure where I am.’ So I’ll be honest. I think he’s like, ‘Okay, I’ll go.’ But I think he’s hoping he can kind of weasel his way out a bit. Like, ‘Let’s have a think. Let’s give it six months.'”
Asked whether or not the relationship could end if Nick is honest with Leanne, Ben predicted: “I don’t think so. I think after a while in Corrie, it’s not that. Like with any long relationship, it shouldn’t be that you can’t start talking honestly without it always just collapsing because they’re a long-standing couple.
“I think he hasn’t fully sorted out what his thoughts are before he does that. I think that does start to come up, but it’s not so much that it would be over. I think those things in long-term characters can’t really work like that — you have to think that it ebbs and flows like any long relationship. They’ve been in each other’s lives for a long time now.”
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.
Read more Emmerdale spoilers on our dedicated homepage
Night News Editor
Justin has been with Digital Spy since 2010, and in that time, has covered countless major news events for DS from the US.
He has worked previously as both a reporter and sub editor for the brand, prior to taking on the position of Night News Editor in 2016.
Over more than a decade, he has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. As a US contributor to Digital Spy, Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo.
Daniel has been writing about soaps on Digital Spy since 2004 and took over as Soaps Editor in 2010.
He has interviewed hundreds of soap stars over the years, from Bill Roache to Lacey Turner, and regularly visits the sets of Coronation Street, EastEnders, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks for behind-the-scenes trips and press events.
He has served as an awards judge on numerous occasions for the likes of the BAFTA TV Awards, RTS Programme Awards and British Soap Awards. In 2020, he was Highly Commended for Best Section Editor at the BSME Awards.
