ITV Coronation Street star Vicky Myers opens up about playing DS Lisa Swain

04 March 2024 , 00:46

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Vicky Myers is now a regular on ITV’s Coronation Street playing DS Lisa Swain

Coronation Street newcomer Vicky Myers expects to be public enemy Number One when her character arrests cobbles favourite Roy Cropper on suspicion of murder.

The actress, who plays no-nonsense DS Lisa Swain, admits she fears a backlash from fans of popular cafe owner Roy as he is held over the disappearance of teenager Lauren Bolton. Talking of first reading the ITV soap’s storyline twist, Vicky said: “It was terrible! I thought ‘Oh, no, this is just going to be awful.’ I think there might be a fair bit of backlash. But I can handle it and Swain can handle it. She doesn’t know Roy. It’s irrelevant to her that he’s this much-loved character in the street.”

Cafe worker Lauren vanished last month and in upcoming scenes the finger of suspicion falls on cobbles locals including Roy Cropper (David Neilson) and Daniel Osbourne (Rob Mallard).

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When blood is found in Lauren’s flat, DS Swain comes to the conclusion that she was murdered and turns up at the cafe to arrest Roy – to the surprise of reporter Suki Waters (Laura Littlewood), also in the cafe at the time.

The shock storyline co­incides with DS Swain becoming a regular character after three years of occasional appearances investigating Weatherfield crimes. Her first cases there were the assaults on Nina Lucas and Seb Franklin. She also probed the acid attack on Daisy Midgeley and Stephen Reid’s murderous reign of terror, and she questioned Peter Barlow after he was arrested for Stephen’s murder.

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But the dogged detective is not Vicky’s first role on the soap. She played a paramedic in 2007 and, when Tyrone Dobbs flagged down a car in 2010 after he and wife Molly crashed, the driver he stopped was Vicky too. As well as appearing in Coronation Street, London-born Vicky, 42, has been in shows such as Ackley Bridge, Age Before Beauty and The Long Shadow.

The opportunity to play Swain came in 2021. Vicky said: “I was contracted to do eight episodes. I never imagined that it would become a regular role, so this is really quite something. I’m very thankful to be given this massive opportunity. Obviously, you hope, but it was never expected at all. When I got the call that this was happening, Lisa was the itch I needed to scratch. I want to know more about her.”

The glamorous police officer has already developed a huge social media following, with several fans calling DS Swain “hot”.

Modest Vicky said: “I think it’s because she’s no-nonsense. She’s straight talking and doesn’t care about the other characters in the street. She’s there to do a job and she takes it seriously. She is who she is.”

Sue Crawford