Dolly-Rose Interview: "I Based Gemma On People I Knew"

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog May 2017, reposted to this blog with permission.)


There's an excellent interview in this week's Inside Soap magazine with Dolly-Rose Campbell, who plays Gemma Winter in Coronation Street.

Dolly-Rose says that a lot of fans weren't sure about Gemma (real name Gemini) Winter when she first joined Corrie. "But now she makes them laugh," she says.

Gemma was initially only brought in for six episodes, says Dolly-Rose. "The writers gave me the lines but it was left up to me to decide how I wanted Gemma to look and how to play her. I based her on a few people I knew - but they don't know that!"  It was also Dolly-Rose's idea to squeeze Gemma into the smallest-sized clothes so that she looked plump on screen.

She reveals that she's learned a lot from Barbara Knox, who plays Rita, and that Malcolm Hebden, who plays Norris, is the person who makes her laugh most on set.

It's an excellent interview, too long to summarise properly here, so do please go out and buy the magazine as it's an excellent read.


(I think we do get Inside Soap in Canada, a couple of weeks late so if you can find it at your local newsstand, keep an eye out.)

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