‘I Don't Want To Be The Queen Of Gritty Drama!'

Actress Sarah Lancashire explains how she has changed from her Coronation Street days

- Rebecca Calderwood

She has kept us glued to our TV screens for the past three decades, and there’s no slowing Sarah Lancashire down.

As we sit down to chat with the 55-year-old actress, joined by Sandra Goldbacher, the director of her new TV show The Accident, she tells us she’s in the middle of filming Last Tango in Halifax. But while she remains tight-lipped on the comedy-drama, she’s more than happy to discuss her latest Channel 4 gig, The Accident.

‘I feel very blessed that I receive pieces like that,’ she tells us. ‘It’s fantastically rewarding. It was difficult to walk away from it because these experiences don’t come along very often.

‘You don’t want to leave it behind because it will be another 10 years before one of those crops up again.’

Sarah first shot to fame in 1991 as Raquel Watts in Coronation Street. However, the role – which no doubt made her a firm favourite across the nation – isn’t something she looks back on often. ‘I can’t even remember yesterday,’ she jokes.

Over the years, the mum-of-three, who was awarded an OBE in 2017, has found critical acclaim in a number of TV dramas, including BBC thriller Happy Valley and Channel 4’s Kiri. And she’s confident her legion of fans won’t be disappointed with her latest gig, The Accident.

‘I haven’t changed as an actor, but I’ve evolved probably in a sense,’ she explains.