20 Years Of Battersby Magic

Two decades after gatecrashing Coronation Street, Jane Danson and Georgia Taylor – aka Leanne and Toyah – on their soap lives so far…

- Alison Slade

Congratulations to you both on your big anniversary – does it feel like 20 years since you joined Corrie or just like yesterday?

Georgia: It doesn’t feel like yesterday, but then 20 years seems like a huge amount of time. Recently, we were filming on a set that had that awful picture of me and Jane from our first ever Battersby photoshoot. When I see stuff like that, I don’t feel that it’s me.

Jane: So much has happened to Leanne and to me that I think, ‘Oh my God, 20 years! That’s forever ago’.

Are you going to mark the occasion?

Georgia: We’ve been joking about re-creating one of our classic Toyah and Leanne photoshoots and putting it on Twitter – so watch this space.

Jane: I might even put the streaks in my hair! Thankfully, you can take them out now, whereas before, you had to live with them for six months.

Given the initial, negative response to the Battersbys’ arrival, are you surprised that you’re still here?

Georgia: I signed up for five months, and I thought, ‘I’ve got five months on Corrie, that’s amazing!’ To be honest, the initial response didn’t bother me massively because it’s what Brian Park, the producer on the show at the time, wanted. He was like, ‘I want you to be the family that everyone hates’.