Coronation Street's Farrel Hegarty certain how Lou Michaelis will leave show
Poised to emigrate to Australia before she landed her Corrie role as neighbour-from-hell Lou Michaelis, actress Farrel Hegarty is already being likened to hellraising battleaxe Janice Battersby. Flattered by the comparison, there is no such thing as being too gobby, according to Yorkshire-born Farrel.
She tells The Mirror: 'Lou is gobby, loud, irrational and it's lovely to be compared to such a big character, like Janice Battersby. You always dream of landing a part like Lou. So to get it later in life, is overwhelming and I cried. I was so happy.'
At 37, Farrel will not be considered to be 'later in life' by many of us, but age is an issue in the acting profession. 'Working as a jobbing actress can be hard,' explains Farrel. 'There were 50 people in my year at drama school 15 years ago and when we recently counted how many were still acting, it was only seven.'
When the Corrie audition came, she was about to leave her home in London to move Down Under and live with her girlfriend of 18 months. She says: 'I was about to move to Australia to move in with my partner and the audition came up. Either way, my life was about to go in a different direction, as I knew I'd either be going to Australia or joining Coronation Street.
'I knew if I got the role, then it was my time. Having a long-distance relationship is definitely not for the faint-hearted but my partner was never going to be angry that I was going to be in Corrie. She knows how much it meant to me and how tough it has been.'
The moment Lou, her husband Mick Michaelis (Joe Layton) and their son Brody (Ryan Mulvey) arrived on the cobbles, they began wreaking havoc.
For Chesney and Gemma, they have become nightmare neighbours, while thug Mick has bullied Leo, battered his stepdad Gary and is tormenting bent copper Kit with threats to reveal his bad boy past, when they were both delinquent teenagers.
And Farrel is at pains to point out that, while she loves playing her, she is nothing like Lou in real life. She says: 'Lou loves an insult. She's called people a cow, bimbo and witch and sometimes I find myself going 'take a minute, Lou' when I read the scripts.
"I am obviously nothing like her and the only thing we do have in common, other than being close to family, is we have the same face!' So far, despite Mick's thuggery, there has been no indication of any aggression towards Lou.
But in tonight's episode, it will be revealed that he has been abusing her physically and mentally. Bombshell revelations in Friday's episode lifted the lid on Lou and Kit's affair years earlier, which cast doubt on whether the policeman or Mick was Brody's dad.
And when Brody is caught shoplifting, enraged Mick makes his feelings clear with viewers seeing Lou taken to A&E with a head wound by Tim Metcalfe (Joe Duttine) . There is no doubt who caused it, yet Lou is besotted with Mick. 'She is so infatuated and in love with Mick that she is willing to overlook things,' explains Farrel.
'She loves him so much that when he is being scary, she soon forgets it when he tells her an hour later how sorry he is and how much he loves her. The fear disappears.'
Farrel says the hard-hitting storyline is an important one: 'We want women in horrendous situations like this to realise they aren't alone and to also show it's not always (happening to) the person you might expect.
'Yes Lou is loud and gobby and you wouldn't expect this to happen to her, but there is a vulnerable side to her too. Mick is all she has ever known and her love for him will always outdo everything.'
Farrel won't divulge whether Lou will leave Mick, but she says her relationship with Brody becomes strained, now he has found Kit may be his real dad.
'Lou sees the best in Brody, but he's turning into Mick,' she reveals. 'But, to be fair, Brody has had a hard life and to discover his life may have been a lie is bound to test a relationship.' Farrel says Joe is a joy to work with: 'He is the opposite of Mick, such a lovely human and the most caring man. '
Knowing the destruction unleashed on Weatherfield by the Michaelises would be short-lived, as their Coronation Street contracts were finite, Lou plans to make the most of every second.
Due to depart in the summer, she says: 'I've loved it all and even now, a few months in, it's surreal walking on the cobbles. So much has happened in such a short time, and we've caused chaos. I've never had so many arguments!
'To get this role is a dream come true, but I always knew I would one day be leaving. Joe and I came in together and will leave together. How we do it, I can't say, but it's brilliant being part of the show. Watching the other actors is like a masterclass in acting. When I do film my final scenes, I'll probably cry.'
After leaving East 15 acting school in Essex 15 years ago, Farrel has had small roles in Brassic and Johnny Vegas' Murder They Hope, as well as creating comedy content on TikTok and appearing in Corrie in 2019, as a reporter looking into Robert Preston's shooting.
Between roles, she has sometimes taken temporary office jobs. 'It's hard going to auditions, but when you get a part like Lou, it's an incredible feeling.'
Her dream now is to land a role in a sitcom. 'I enjoy doing silly skits,' says Farrel, who plans to go to Australia first. 'I will need a holiday by then. It will be great to see my partner too.'
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Abuse Helpline 24/7 on 0808 2000247.
Coronation Street airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 8pm on ITV1. Also on ITVX.
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