Coronation Street’s Ben Price addresses the end of Leanne Battersby and Nick Tilsley
Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson) and Nick Tilsley (Ben Price) have had a wobbly few months in Coronation Street following Leanne’s support for her step-son Simon Barlow (Alex Bain) – who endangered the life of Nick’s son Sam (Jude Riordan) by driving while drunk.
While the couple have become engaged (again), Nick isn’t entirely convinced when Leanne wants to forge ahead with the wedding plans, as Ben Price told us recently.
‘He’s not too happy about it,’ he confirmed. ‘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 hoping he can kind of weasel his way out a bit. Like, “Let’s have a think. Let’s give it six months.”’
This doesn’t sound like the recipe for a happy-ever-after, but Ben was quite clear that Nick is still committed to Leanne. ‘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.’
Despite the hurdles that presently exist in the relationship, Ben insisted that there is still a future for Nick and Leanne and it’s the difficulties that make the relationship realistic.
‘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,’ he pointed out.
‘I think he hasn’t fully sorted out what his thoughts are. You have to think it ebbs and flows like any long marriage, you know, they’ve been together. They’ve been in their lives for a long time now.’
Fresh difficulties are about to be presented when Leanne falls under the spell of Rowan (Emrhys Cooper), the head of a shady organisation called The Institute. At first Nick isn’t threatened by this, but it gradually develops into a problem as Leanne becomes more drawn in by Rowan.
Could this be the end of Nick and Leanne? Ben told us that he hopes the relationship can weather this storm as it has with so many.
‘I think Nick and Leanne, in my heart, are probably forever,’ he stated.
‘I think an audience appreciate long term. You want them talking at the telly going, “Oh, I can’t believe she did that. I can’t believe he did that. They’ll get back together. I know they will.” Because people invest in the relationship. I’ve invested in the relationship. But you should definitely be willing to break all that and see where it comes from.
‘Yes, it should be rocky. Yes, you should always have other people come into the relationship in a show like this. Yes, you should fall madly in love with that story and that person in that time. I think that that is vital in this show.’
It’s the nature of soaps that a partnership, even if it’s long-standing and popular with the fans, can’t be guaranteed to last and the actors are always open to the fact that things might change.
While Ben is mindful of this, he also loves working with Jane Danson and would like to see that continue.
‘We both have a similar way of working, we’ve known each for a long time, it’s very easy on set, that’s a bit of a dream and that’s what you want to carry on with,’ he said.
‘But Jane’s been longer than me and she’s had a lot of relationships, and she knows you also have to be prepared to fully invest in that. And then the producers say, “Oh actually, we’re going to go this way”. Great! We go that way. But, yeah, definitely at the moment, I think there is a way back for them.’