Mollie Gallagher has opened up about the difficult decision to leave her role as Coronation Street's goth queen Nina Lucas after six and a half years, revealing that the prospect of juggling both her soap duties and a new theatre career 'would never work'. The actress, who has recently debuted as Clarice Starling in the stage adaptation of Silence of the Lambs, admitted she initially hoped to take on both roles simultaneously.
Why Mollie Gallagher Couldn't Do Both
Speaking about her initial ambitions, Gallagher confessed: 'Originally I really wanted to find a way to do both. It sounds ridiculous hearing it now, but I'd seen theatre runs where different actors take on different stints, but I realised pretty quickly that could never work.'
She elaborated on the emotional dilemma: 'It's so hard. Because obviously, being on Corrie has been my dream, but also you want to explore other things and to be offered something as great as this, and not be able to do it would be devastating.'
The actress also discussed the transition from television to theatre, telling Radio Times: 'This is only my second professional job! So I don't know if this ever goes away for anybody, but there is a big feeling of imposter syndrome. I've not done professional theatre and I feel like I'm very much in the unknown, and at least with TV you can watch yourself back and kind of go from there.'
Embodying Clarice Starling
On taking on the iconic role of Clarice Starling, Gallagher shared her approach: 'Sometimes you can go, "Well, I wouldn't do that, Mollie wouldn't be able to do that," but Clarice can do that. She has to be grounded, no kind of airy fairy behaviour, it's the opposite of that. But luckily I got my big mirror out and I started doing the lines and I was like, "Oh, this is cool, she does sit in me."
Her departure from Coronation Street was first revealed in June, with her final scenes airing at the end of August. A Corrie spokesperson said: 'Mollie has created a unique and well loved character in Nina over the past six and a half years and everyone will be sorry to see her go. It is fantastic for Mollie that she has been given this incredible opportunity to play such an iconic role and we wish her all the best for the theatre tour.'
Nina's Story Isn't Over
Gallagher previously assured fans that Nina's story 'isn't over' and that her character will not be killed off, saying: 'I would not have been able to deal with that!' She also expressed her passion for the character: 'I was really passionate about portraying this alternative character. We kept her quite similar the whole time, which was important to me. I never wanted Nina to lose her goth look and who she is – I think the audience have always really appreciated that.'
Gallagher is not the only former soap star in the Silence of the Lambs cast, with EastEnders legend John Partridge and Corrie and Emmerdale alum Oliver Farnworth also performing. She spoke warmly of their working relationship: 'They're the two actors I work with the most. We get on very well, which is what you want! They're brilliant actors as well. It's nice, because it's this little soap bubble. We've got EastEnders, Emmerdale, Corrie – and Ollie did Corrie as well. They've been in the industry for years so it's nice to learn from them and get some advice. I'm very lucky.'
She added: 'I've also enjoyed talking to Ollie about his Corrie days – it was quite a few years ago now that he was in the show, so there are some similarities with my time but also some differences.'
