Coronation Street star reveals more on Leanne and Harvey's scenes

Coronation Street spoilers follow.

Coronation Street's Jane Danson has opened up about the upcoming confrontation between Leanne Battersby and Harvey Gaskell.

The pair are set to come face-to-face once again as part of Super Soap Week after Harvey (Will Mellor) escapes from prison and manages to track down Leanne, whose testimony helped put him behind bars earlier this year.

The drug lord manages to track her down at the Bistro, which comes "completely out of the blue" for Leanne, who is understandably terrified.

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"Harvey is a really frightening character who's involved in this awful world and she's fearful for her life," Jane admitted. "She knows that he means business and he's not going to mess about.

"Leanne's pretty savvy and streetwise but she knows a bad egg when she sees one. It's pre watershed but within the realms of that it's as serious as it gets and we certainly played it as her fighting for her life."

Harvey makes it clear that he is back to kill Leanne, though the actress explained that she's smart enough to play along with his games.

"She's like a little play thing for him but she knows that too, she knows that at times she has to play along with it and there are moments where that inner Battersby is still there and she tries to outsmart him."

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Jane went on to admit that she herself was scared at times filming the scenes, recalling: "In the moment, yes absolutely, that's when you really believe someone as an actor.

"What is nice about having that physicality is you can do things that we've not been able to do previously. There are particular lines that he made really dark just because of the way he touched me and that took me by surprise a bit. You feed off each other because that reaction is really real and it was really exciting to film."

She also suggested that Harvey should be worried if Leanne's inner Battersby comes out: "She's got the nice flat now, the nicer clothes, she lives at the posher end of the street but that yappy, scrappy, feisty Battersby is still in there. He will always overpower her physically but she will definitely give as good as she gets."

harvey gaskell and leanne battersby in coronation street

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The scenes will see Leanne try to escape from Harvey, before he gags and binds her, though as she makes a break for it, he chases her as the ground opens up and the damage from the sinkhole spreads… what happens next remains a mystery.

Speaking on filming the scenes, Jane explained how the set design added to the drama, as she noted: "It was great being able to collaborate with the production team and all the different directors, seeing their vision.

"There's a lot going on in the scenes, it's visually different and I think the weather element will play a huge part in the story, we almost felt like the weather was another character in this week.

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"It was quite exciting in terms of special effects. Even though it was freezing, we all pulled together and these brutal rain bars lent a different kind of feeling to the scenes. The crew were able to get all their toys out, all the gadgets, and make something a bit out of the ordinary, which was fun. It almost felt like we were filming a movie."

The actress also said it was "great to be able to work closely together" after filming her and Will's initial scenes socially distanced due to COVID-19 regulations.

"Will's an actor who really commits to it, he's totally in the moment," she said. "So after we'd been COVID tested in our bubble we were really able to get up close in the safest way possible.

"I've had some of the biggest storylines of my career in the last few years and weirdly all done at two metres, which has been a job in itself. This gave us much more freedom and I'm always up for that."

leanne battersby and imran habeeb in coronation street

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As for how this storyline ranks with previous big Corrie stunts, Jane reflected: "We've had loads of things over the years; fires, boat accidents, car crashes, a tram crash, explosions and this is really different because this is a chain of events where one thing leads onto another.

"I can't wait to watch it as a viewer and see what everyone else was doing while I was doing my bit. Everyone says it's looking great so I can't wait to see it."

Coronation Street airs these scenes on Monday, October 18, Wednesday, October 20 and Friday, October 22 at 7.30pm and 8.30pm on ITV.