‘I don’t want her to look stupid’ says Corrie’s Channique Sterling-Brown as she shares fears over Dee-Dee and Joel story
CORONATION Street star has shared her fears for her character over upcoming scenes with her fiancé Joel.
Channique Sterling-Brown’s character Dee-Dee Bailey is currently unaware of Joel Deering’s (Calum Lill) secret life.
In scenes set to air on ITV next week, Dee-Dee will finally uncover Joel’s lies.
As Corrie fans know, Joel has been spinning a web of lies for months after he started a sexual relationship with Lauren Bolton (Cait Fitton).
He often gave her money for her food and bills, but expected sex in return.
When Lauren tried to stand up to Joel, he attacked her and left her for dead. After weeks away lying low, Lauren returned and revealed she was pregnant with Joel’s baby.
Desperate to keep his actions hidden from Dee-Dee, Joel is putting Lauren up in his old flat and planning for her to move to Belfast. But it was all a lie as abusive he then enacted a new plan to make Lauren lose the baby which resulted in premature labour.
Thankfully it seems Joel’s abuse won’t stay hidden much longer as his ex-wife reveals to Dee-Dee that he’s still paying rent on his old flat.
Lauren also tells Dee-Dee she’s planning to move to Belfast, which matches a notification for a flight on Joel’s phone, which will lead Dee-Dee to confront her fiancé next week.
Soap star Channique has opened up about working on the storyline behind-the-scenes, admitting that she doesn’t want her character “to look stupid” while also portraying the realities of being manipulated by a partner.
“The one thing I said to the producers at the start of this storyline was, ‘She’s not stupid and I don’t want her to look stupid’, and there’s this whole chapter where she is in the dark,” she explained.
Channique continued: “It’s been really important to establish this relationship because Joel has gotten to know Dee-Dee so well, which has allowed him to manipulate her to the best of his ability.
“A lot of people find themselves in situations where they’ve been deceived and we’ve got to do them justice by not just having them seem like a rose-tinted glasses type of person.
“As abusers and narcissists like Joel do, they ensure they have completely sold a different version of who they really are and that was really important for me to portray.”
Now Dee-Dee is starting to see through Joel’s deception.
Ahead of the confrontation next week, Dee-Dee lets herself into Joel’s flat with a set of keys that she finds in his open briefcase and begins playing detective, discovering a jewellery receipt there.
After more tough conversations with Emily, which contradict Joel’s story that he bought the bracelet for his daughter Maeve, Dee-Dee becomes convinced that her fiancé is having an affair – but little does she know it’s so much more.
Dee-Dee is finally starting to uncover the truth about Joel, but will he continue to spin his web of lies?
