Coronation Street boss Iain MacLeod scraps Hope’s dark storylines
Hope Stape (Isabella Flanagan) has recently developed a reputation on Coronation Street as a troubled youngster with a sinister side.
Okay, “a bit” probably isn’t enough.
Hope is an extremely problematic youngster.
Hope has a propensity to cause trouble for the grownups in her life, whether it is through pyromania or concealing her cousin in the attic.
Most recently, a novel on John Stape, her father and a serial killer, captured her interest.
Hope started selling signed copies of the book at her school, but after a few of her peers hurt her, she made the decision to attempt to exact revenge by staging the murder of Charlotte Hoyle, one of the many victims her dad had killed.
After Peanut killed Cilla the Chinchilla, she further faked a dog bite on her arm as if that weren’t enough.
Yes!
Young Hope has had quite the ride up to this point, but Corrie executive Iain MacLeod has indicated that as the character hits her pre-teen years, things will take a different turn.
He stated, “She’s absolutely not going to continue going down such a problematic path, in the short to medium to long-term,” during an episode of Loose Women. During the following 12 months, we’re going to focus on typical pre-teen activities, even if we’ve done some extremely nasty and twisted things with that character.
She and Sam [played by Jude Riordan] will develop a bond that may occasionally border on a very innocent pre-teen romance as they attempt to navigate those tricky waters.
“Well, yeah, there will always be a Hope twist because she could be a little bit different from other kids her age in terms of how she is wired. She might not necessarily receive assistance, but we’ll get to see a more realistic, grounded side of her.
Iain added that he didn’t want to risk Isabella Flanagan becoming burned out with repeated plots since he wants her to stay in the ITV series for years.
The actor continued, “I just believe there’s a risk with any character who’s so wonderful – and Isabella is such a good performer as well – that you burn them out by having them do too much big crazy stuff in a run.”
God willing, if we’re lucky, we’ll have her for a very long time.
