Kirsty Soames
Kirsty Soames | |
---|---|
Alison Soames | |
Daughters | Ruby Dobbs |
First cousins | Nathan |
Kirsty Soames is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Natalie Gumede. She made her first on-screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 7 September 2011.
On 21 February 2013, Gumede announced she was leaving the soap at the end of her current storyline. She departed on 3 April 2013, after which her character Kirsty was sent to prison. Gumede has won several awards for her portrayal of Kirsty. In June 2021, it was confirmed that Kirsty would be killed off-screen.[1]
Storylines
While on a night out, Tommy Duckworth (Chris Fountain) pays Kirsty to flirt with his friend, Tyrone Dobbs (Alan Halsall) who is single. Kirsty and Tyrone get on well and they exchange phone numbers. Tyrone later learns that Tommy paid Kirsty but she reveals that she is genuinely interested in him.
When Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan) parks Rita Sullivan's (Barbara Knox) car across Kirsty's, they argue and Tina accuses Kirsty of scratching Rita's car. However, Kirsty denies it, telling Tina that she is a police officer but dislikes Tina and starts causing problems for her, including getting her accused of suspected shoplifting at a shopping centre and breaking a bottle of her perfume. She accidentally has Rita stopped for speeding but gets the ticket cancelled as she thought Tina would be driving. When Tyrone overhears Kirsty admitting to Tina that she set her up and threatening her, he ends the relationship. When Tina refuses to let her see Tyrone, Kirsty follows them in her police car as she is convinced they are secretly dating, but Tina sees her and is driving to the police station when they are involved in a minor accident and all three are taken to hospital. Kirsty then learns that she is pregnant. Tyrone decides to give Kirsty a second chance but Tina reports Kirsty for harassment but is persuaded to drop the case. Tina, determined to get her out of Tyrone's life, gets Tommy to follow her and when they see her meeting a man, they assume that Kirsty is cheating on Tyrone but are disappointed when Kirsty tells Tyrone that she was meeting her cousin about a present for him and is so disgusted by the accusation of infidelity that she then leaves. Tyrone goes to the police station and apologises before proposing and she accepts.
Kirsty threatens Tommy, warning him that no one will ever come between her and Tyrone and is not pleased when Tyrone lends Tommy some money, but agrees to help him investigate
Kirsty later suffers Braxton Hicks contractions in the cafe and panics when she can't get hold of Tyrone. When she learns that he was fixing
Kirsty goes past her due date, but when Tina pushes her into a table during a fight in The Rovers, they realise she is in labour.
Realising she cannot trust Tyrone because of numerous texts from Fiz, Kirsty locks Tyrone in the house and takes his phone and keys with her. When Tyrone complains, she attacks him again but this time, shows no remorse and demands he apologize. Tyrone couldn't take any more, planning to run away with Ruby but Fiz and Tommy stop him and suggest he marry Kirsty so he will have parental responsibility. Tyrone and Kirsty make up and they begin planning the wedding. On Tyrone's birthday, Kirsty sees a card from Fiz and punishes him by slamming a door on his arm, injuring him. She apologizes again and they continue with the wedding plans but Kirsty becomes paranoid about Fiz and causes a fight by insulting her and her daughter,
Fiz and Tina find Alison and tells her what has happened but she refuses to believe them. When she confronts Kirsty, however, she admits it and promises to tell the police everything but changes her mind when she sees Alison leaving Tina's flat. In court, she stuck to her statement, much to Fiz and Alison's disgust. Alison offers to move in with her and help with Ruby, on condition that she tells the truth but Kirsty refuses, telling Alison that she is not welcome. However, the truth comes out when she finds Sally Webster (Sally Dynevor) looking after Ruby and angrily chucked her out, shouting at Julie for abandoning her and throws a cup at her. She immediately apologizes, blaming her stressful day. The next day, Ruby won't stop crying and Kirsty asks Dr. Carter for sleeping pills but storms out when he refuses. Julie, worried about what she saw, confronts Kirsty but she loses her temper and slaps Julie and gives her a bloody lip, so she runs out. Realising that now everyone will soon know the truth, she breaks down. When Ruby won't stop crying, she screams at her to shut up. Julie and Sean notice that Ruby has stopped crying and go to investigate, finding the house empty so Brian and Julie go to court but are told that Julie's complaint is not relevant to Tyrone's case and to go to the police if they want to make a formal complaint. Meanwhile, Kirsty and Ruby go into the courtroom and Kirsty admits that she is the monster, not Tyrone. Ruby was taken to social services, Tyrone ended up back in his cell and Kirsty was arrested. She admitted everything to the police and Tyrone was discharged from the court, and Ruby is returned to him. Kirsty sees Tyrone and Fiz walking away with her baby while she is taken to prison.
The next day, Kirsty wants to see Tyrone. He visits her and tells her not to contact him or Ruby ever again and that he's not scared of her anymore. Kirsty admits that she is the villain and says that she will get help, but Tyrone has heard it all before. He is sympathetic when Kirsty pours her heart out about changing her story for Ruby. Tyrone tells her that she'll always be Ruby's mother and that she'll always love her. Tyrone then leaves and Kirsty is escorted back to the prison cells.
In April 2014, Tyrone receives a call, saying that Kirsty has been released from prison. He later starts receiving anonymous text messages from an unknown person named "K". Tyrone believes that this is Kirsty but it is later revealed that the culprit was
In June 2021, Tyrone receives a visit from a police officer who informs him that Kirsty has died from an aneurysm. Unaware of how to feel, Tyrone visits Fiz to inform her of the news and they later inform Ruby that her biological mother has died.
Casting
Casting for Kirsty was announced on 8 July 2011 with Gumede winning the part.[2] On being cast in the role Gumede said, "From the moment I read the script, I knew I was going to love playing Kirsty and I can't wait to see how the story unfolds" adding, "This is a dream role for me and I'm looking forward to creating a huge storm in Weatherfield".[2] Gumede filmed her first scenes in early July.[3]
Kirsty was introduced as a love interest for
Development
Domestic violence storyline
Kirsty's character was seen to be manipulative and controlling, and a
Upon hearing of the abuse storyline, Gumede and co-star Alan Halsall researched male domestic abuse charities such as ManKind[7] - that support male victims of domestic violence, in order to portray the storyline as realistically as possible. She later told the Daily Record that "there isn't much from the female abuser's point of view to read up on, it was really a case of thinking about it from the victim's point of view." She later said that she found it hard and "draining" to film scenes where she attacked co-star Halsall, and that although "it was all camera tricks, the place I had to emotionally go to was quite ugly."[8] After attacking Tyrone a second time, Kirsty attempts to leave him fearing that she is a danger to him.[9]
In an interview with Digital Spy, Gumede explained that Kirsty's violence stemmed from her childhood. She revealed that "Kirsty had an abusive childhood. Her father hit her on a regular basis up until her 18th birthday, when she left home. The inference is that she's had very little contact with her family since then."[10] In June 2012, Gumede revealed that she was "terrified" at the prospect of filming scenes in which her character gave birth. She explained that "artificial baby bump makes filming difficult, especially in the warm sunshine" and that the upcoming scenes would provide a "further challenge in her career."[11] Gumede told the Anna Mansell from the Lancashire Telegraph that "it has been really interesting how people have said they felt sorry for her"[9] and that "viewers are intrigued to see what happens next as it’s a really complex story for a complex character."[12]
Kirsty gave birth to a daughter, who she and Tyrone named Ruby.[13] After bringing Ruby home, Kirsty struggles to cope with being a mother and when the baby does not stop crying, she trashes the kitchen.[13] The neighbours are forced to alert Tyrone to the situation and he rushes to stop Kirsty.[13] Peter Dyke and Katie Begley of the Daily Star reported that Tyrone considers running away with Ruby to protect her.[13]
Departure
On 21 February 2013, Gumede announced that she would be leaving Coronation Street.[14] Gumede stated that she had been touched by the support of the viewers, saying "The last 18 months have been incredible, thank you all so much!"[14] The actress filmed her final scenes as Kirsty during the week commencing 25 February.[14] She shot her scenes along with fellow departing actress, Shobna Gulati, who played Sunita Alahan.[15]
Reception
For her portrayal of Kirsty, Gumede received the Best Newcomer accolade at The British Soap Awards 2012.[16] She was later nominated for Best Soap Newcomer at the TVChoice Awards and Most Popular Newcomer at the 18th National Television Awards.[17][18] Gumede won Best Bitch at the 2013 Inside Soap Awards.[19] In Digital Spy's 2012 end of year reader poll, Kirsty's domestic abuse storyline with Tyrone won Best Storyline with 28.3% of the vote.[20]
Inside Soap's Kate White commented "Hurrah for Corrie's Ker-azy Kirsty! She's as mad as a March Hare hiding under the Mad Hatter's maddest hat."[21] At The British Soap Awards 2013, Gumede won "Best Dramatic Performance" and "Villain of the Year" for her portrayal of Kirsty. She also won "Best Storyline" at The British Soap Awards 2013, alongside Alan Halsall and Jennie McAlpine, with the nomination being named, "Kirsty's abuse of Tyrone".
See also
References
- ^ Tutton, Charlotte (15 June 2016). "Corrie character to be killed off next week as tragic death leaves Tyrone reeling". Daily Mirror.
- ^ Hachette Filipacchi UK). Retrieved 16 September 2011.
- Hachette Filipacchi UK). Retrieved 16 September 2011.
- ^ Hachette Filipacchi UK). Retrieved 17 June 2011.
- ^ "Meet Tyrone's new girlfriend". itv.com. (ITV plc). 28 June 2011. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
- IPC Media). 12 March 2012. Archived from the originalon 8 November 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
- Trinity Mirror). Retrieved 25 July 2012.
- Hearst Magazines UK). Retrieved 25 July 2012.
- ^ Hearst Magazines UK). Retrieved 25 July 2012.
- Hearst Magazines UK). Retrieved 25 July 2012.
- Hearst Magazines UK). Retrieved 25 July 2012.
- ^ Mansell, Anna (30 May 2012). "Colne Coronation Street actress sheds light on taboo storyline". Lancashire Telegraph. (Newsquest). Retrieved 25 July 2012.
- ^ a b c d Dyke, Peter; Begley, Katie (7 August 2012). "Coronation Street: Over the tot!". Daily Star. Northern & Shell. Retrieved 11 August 2012.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b c Laing, Greg (22 February 2013). "'Coronation Street's Natalie Gumede confirms Kirsty departure". Digital Spy. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
- ^ Daniels, Colin (27 February 2013). "'Coronation Street's Shobna Gulati, Natalie Gumede film final scenes". Digital Spy. Retrieved 27 February 2013.
- Hearst Magazines UK). Retrieved 29 April 2012.
- ^ Daniels, Colin (10 September 2012). "TVChoice Awards 2012: The winners - In full". Digital Spy. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
- ^ "National TV Awards 2013: The nominees". BBC News. BBC. 8 January 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
- ^ Kilkelly, Daniel (21 October 2013). "Inside Soap Awards 2013 - winners list in full". Digital Spy. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ Kilkelly, Daniel (22 December 2012). "'EastEnders', Corrie, 'Hollyoaks' all win in Digital Spy's 2012 poll". Digital Spy. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
- ^ White, Kate (25 February – 2 March 2012). "Hits and Misses!". Inside Soap (8): 98.