Q: Yana Lumb has become something of an unsung heroine of
Coronation
Street. She's the tart with a heart that we didn't see
enough of. Why do you think Yana was so popular with
fans?
I think perhaps because she was so rough and of
course the brilliant writers gave her such funny lines to say.
That combined with the awful tarty clothes, gobbiness and
bird's nest hair made her the prototype Becky in some ways.
Also Wendi Peters (Cilla Battersby-Brown) and I hit
it off really well, and I think that came over on screen. We
are genuinely friends in real life, and had such a laugh in
between takes. Corrie has always had great comedy double acts and
the scenes in the chippy in particular were always really fun
to do. Imagine walking in there for a bag of chips and coming
face to face with those two!
Scary.
Q: Any plans to bring her back to
Corrie?
Well none
that I've heard of, but who knows? If new Producer Phil
Collinson is a Yana fan perhaps he will resurrect her? I'd
like her to come back with a husband. There was talk during
the Tony Wood era of Yana and Diggory being the new Alf and
Audrey. Gail's mum had a bit of a reputation in her early
years. She was a bad mother and went out all the time, and Alf
was a safe haven for her. I think that was the idea behind
Yana and Diggory. At last a man who would look after her and
treat her well. So a husband would be nice. If not Diggory, I
always thought Vernon and Yana would make a very well suited
'naff rock n roll' kind of couple. Or maybe just a tattooed
rough bloke who would terrorise the street like a human pit
bull! She's the sort of bird who would appreciate a tough
bloke who'd defend her honour. She did have a boyfriend called
'Big 'H' once, but he stood her up and was never seen on
screen. Oh and Billy from Market Harborough, who was mentioned
once but never seen. She was a busy
girl!
Q: Was Yana based on anyone you knew (god help them!) and are
there any similarities between yourself and
Yana?
The character
was created by Corrie writer Martin Allen, who named her after
the large chested 1950s singer of the same name. From my point
of view she wasn't based on anyone in particular. Just
elements of a lot of working class women I've observed from my
Bradford childhood: The Yorkshire bluntness, the sharp tongue
and earthy humour.
The brittle front and vulnerability with men are
classic Corrie women traits, so I suppose I was also
influenced by Bet Lynch and Elsie Tanner. I'm afraid the image
though was all my fault! I came up with Yana's signature
'look' at the audition stage. I went along to the casting
wearing thigh boots, a mini skirt and a clingy pink top, with
a very high up pony tail on the top of my head. I also stuck
on a couple of temporary tattoos. At the recall audition
there were five other women there, and most of them were
'Cilla' types. I am six foot tall in heels, so I think
visually, that helped me over the competition. The difference
in heights meant that Wendi and I looked funny when standing
together, like Hylda Baker and her sidekick Cynthia (for those
of us who are old enough to
remember!)
Q: You're a self-confessed
Corrie fan and before you appeared as Yana you
starred as different Coronation Street women from its
past. How did being such a huge fan
translate to acting on the
cobbles?
Well, I mentioned that I grew up loving Elsie and
Bet, but I also loved Hilda and Ena too, so I wanted to
incorporate lots of elements of those classic Corrie women
into Yana, scripts allowing of course. I would sometimes try
and do little things with a nod to the past, like asking for a
milk stout in the Rovers. Yana's hairstyle in the early appearances was a
direct reference to Bet's beehive. I always knew I wanted high
hair on the cobbles, but with a noughties twist, hence the
extra bits of plaits and feathers and colours added to the
barnet. It was at times a work of art! Paul O'Grady and I are
Bet Lynch devotees, and both Lily Savage and my stand up
persona Mary Unfaithful were heavily based on Bet. She's got a
lot to answer for. As a lifelong fan it's especially daunting when you
are doing scenes in The Rovers because it's hard not to have
flashbacks of all the famous scenes and characters that you've
watched. When it's packed with all the cast and you have a
line to say in there it does make you go a bit wobbly. The
pressure!
Q: How long have you been watching
Corrie?
All my life.
The closing theme tune is still synonymous with bed time for
me!
Q: Who are your favourite
Corrie characters - and
why?
Bet and Elsie
for being tarts with hearts. Hilda for her
malapropisms, her singing and her nosiness. Ena for being a
battleaxe. Mrs
Walker for being a snob. Ray Langton for
being a womanising cad. Len for being a
firecracker. Roy and Hayley for being Roy and Hayley, and I
love Audrey: I think Sue Nicholls is highly underrated as a
comic actress in Corrie. Her delivery cracks me up. She's also
lovely in real life. Her husband Mark Eden as Alan Bradley was
also a great character. Tyrone is also underrated comedically.
He's very physically funny. I also liked cheeky Dennis Tanner,
and Elizabeth Bradley as Maud. I liked the way she would wheel
into shot, deliver a stinging line to Reg and then wheel out
of shot again. I
must of course finally mention lovely Maggie Jones as Blanche.
She was hilarious, bless her, and will be missed. She was from
Yorkshire too-see what I mean about the
bluntness!
Q: And what have been your favourite
Corrie storylines over the
years?
Ken, Deirdre
and Mike's love triangle. Uncle Albert Tatlock's tears were
heartbreaking.
Any story with Hilda and Stan in it. All of Alan Bradley's
shenanigans. Richard Hillman,
obviously. (My husband was story editor during that period and
it was a great era. He made me say that!) The earliest
storyline I remember was when Val Barlow electrocuted herself.
I was only about six years old and it stayed with me for a
long time.
Q: What would be your fantasy future
Coronation Street storyline?
Len Windass
stops eating while he's talking. Dev speaks quietleeeee. Molly
and Kevin stop doing the dirty on Sally and Tyrone. Yana comes
back with Diggory and they are rich, due to her persuading him
to make wheat-free bread, cakes and biscuits. He's had a
Dragon's Den kind of success selling his wares to a
supermarket chain, and so he and Yana are now suited and
booted nouveau riche nightmares. She's the wind beneath his
wings. She could even be a businesswoman herself and take over
the chippy. Imagine that! 'Yana's Plaice' is what she'd call
it.
Q: Your husband Mark is senior storyliner at
Coronation Street. Did you meet him when you were
working as Yana? Do
you have any script writing aspirations of your
own?
Mark and I actually met in August 2005 when he was
story editor and I was a potential storyliner. I came to a
storylining workshop at Granada that he was running, and I was
offered three week's work on the strength of the trial
storylines I wrote. I'd previously done some storylining at
Emmerdale, so I wasn't a complete beginner. Weirdly, at the
same time I had just heard I'd got the part of Yana and so was
in the strange position of filming one episode, and then
working briefly as a storyliner. There aren't many actors who
have also been at the writers conference. It was weird having
a foot in both camps. Ultimately though my heart lay in
acting, and when my first on screen appearance was well
received, I just kept getting written back in. That one off
booking ended up being a three year stint, on and off!
I take my hat off to the writers, but I have the
utmost admiration for the storyliners, who are the real unsung
heroes of Corrie. It's a really tough job with long hours and
lots of pressure.
Incidentally Mark left the show in May 2005 to be a
scriptwriter on Family Affairs, and it
was later that year that we got together. We got married two
years later in Sydney. He has since written Hollyoaks and is
now back in the thick of it at Corrie, where he
belongs.
Q: Is there any behind-the-scenes gossip you can
share with us from your time as Yana? What were your favourite
memories from your time spent as Yana - and where on earth did they buy her
clothes?!
Wendi and I would
come down to the Green Room from make up and costume, looking
like two badly painted exotic birds with skirts up here and
chests out there, and Bradley Walsh would saunter in and say
'When are you two going to get into costume?'. Very funny. Also Bev Callard (Liz)
used to scream with laughter and say 'You two make Liz look
refined'. Liz Dawn was always highly amused by our outfits and
one or two of the male cast members used to rather enjoy our
appearances as well. Shorts skirts, high heels and very low
squashy sofas don't make a good combination!
George Michael came
to look around the set one day and I posed for a picture with
him outside the Rovers. I wasn't sure he would know Yana so I
said 'I work in the chippy you know' to him and he said 'Oh,
don't worry, I know what YOU do'. It's very weird to think
that famous people might know you! I have lots of happy
memories of filming with the Battersbys, especially Cilla's
wedding, and meeting Status Quo. Lots of laughs, and a real
camaraderie in the green room and on set. The crew are great
on Corrie, really hard working but with a cheeky sense of
humour. I still have friends like Jude who works in costume.
Honorable mentions should also go to my friends Ian Bevitt
(Director) and (First A.D) John Folkard for being very amusing
on set. John used to say into his radio 'Can we have the
accomplished artistes on set... and the not so accomplished
artistes on set.' We hoped he wasn't talking about us!
In the early
days, the clothes mostly came from me, with a bit of help from
wardrobe. I used to trawl charity shops and Claire's
accessories for Yana's gear. Cilla's wedding was all their
work though! Different producers have different tastes, and so
we were toned down towards the end, which wasn't as much fun.
I like the campness and bling that goes into dressing up like
Yana and Cilla.
Q: You've been a stand up comedian and comedy
writer,
an artist, and an actress.
What's next for Jayne Tunnicliffe? Will we see you on TV again
soon?
A: I really
hope so. With my stand up and comedy writing background I
would really love to be in a sitcom or a sketch show. I'm also
a big fan of Ken Loach, Mike Leigh, Jimmy McGovern and Paul
Abbott, so to be in anything written by them would be a dream.
Shameless next,
perhaps?
Q: Tell us
three things about you that we may not
know.
1. I can play
the banjolele very well.
2. I used to
be Production Secretary on 'Countdown' (the Whiteley and
Vorderman years)
3. My
earliest comedy mentor was Bob Monkhouse. I wouldn't have
persisted in showbusiness had it not been for
him.
You can follow
Jayne Tunnicliffe on Twitter
And
have a look at her jewellery design website
here.