Coronation Street return for Jacqueline Leonard as Linda Hancock makes shock comeback for grandson Joseph
ACTRESS Jacqueline Leonard will be making a full-time return to the cobbles this year as Linda.
The star made her first appearance on Coronation Street in February 2015 as the ex-wife of Owen Armstrong (played by Ian Puleston-Davies)
But Jacqueline, 57, is set to make a dramatic comeback on the long-running ITV soap as her grandson Joseph’s struggles rise to the fore.
Producer Iain MacLeod explained: “Joseph’s issues, which are on screen as we speak, culminate in him falling behind slightly at school.
“Then Joseph’s fairy godmother turns up in the shape of Linda, his grandmother.
“She, as is her want, rides in and decides that she’s going to try and fix all this and starts throwing money at the situation, which puts Chesney and Gemma in this impossible quandary which is they feel that by accepting financial help from Linda, they’re seeding control of Joseph’s life a bit.
“They feel instinctively, ‘This our son and we should be making these decisions and it doesn’t feel right that Linda is wading in with her chequebook and saving the day.’
“But on the other side of it, they have to prioritise what’s right for Joseph, who is actually having a hard time and could do with the support. It’s a lot of fun in places, but we were trying to tell a very realistic story about family dynamics.”
Iain added: “It’s interesting because Gemma is not Joseph’s biological mother so there are tensions around that in terms of Chesney and does he side with Joseph and Linda and biology or does he side more with Gemma?
“His relationship with Gemma is quite fractured and fractious. I hope it’s one of those stories where you’ll watch it and recognise this down to earth family drama from doings in your own family. It feels brilliantly close to home.”
And Iain also revealed that the storyline was inspired by Ken Barlow’s very first storyline on Coronation Street.
He teased: “It’s gonna be a long runner for us, and I suppose the tease that I might give you is that we are taking the very original story played with Ken Barlow as our inspiration, so our inspiration for this dates right back to 1960 in terms of what happens next and it’s all catalysed by Linda’s arrival.”