Coronation Street stars are behind a series of Christmas adverts aimed at bringing providing festive cheer while championing diversity and inclusivity in the arts.
Cherylee Houston and Melissa Johns are best known to Corrie fans as Imogen Pascoe and Izzy Armstrong on the soap cobbles, and last year Melissa starred in the BBC One drama Life.
The stars both have disabilities - Cherylee has the rare connective tissue disorder Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and Melissa was born without a right forearm - and they support others as co-founders of the pioneering drama project Triple C - The Creative Confidence Collective - launched so the next generation of budding actors don’t meet blocks to the arts.
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After watching major retailers put out their multi-million pound ads as major annual TV events, Melissa noticed that very few of them had any disabled stars.
For the third year Cherylee and Melissa's TripleC team has joined forced with the Manchester arts charity 53two to create a heart-warming Christmas advert.
TripleC and 53two were given financial support from ITV for their third ad, starring Winston Gayle as a character called George who used to be the village Santa.
And Sophie Potter, who has Down Syndrome, plays his carer.
Melissa explained about the casting for Time For Santa: "We don't see representation of Santa for black families so why not? So that was our first choice.
"When you see someone with a learning disability or any disability you assume that they're the person who is cared for.
"That's ridiculous. So many people with disabilities are carers.
"So we made Sophie who has a learning disability she is the carer so disability doesn't come into it at all, it's just there."
Melissa hopes to change perceptions with the ad and help to 'change the world a little bit.'
"It would be nice if we could keep doing them forever but maybe the reason wasn't to keep changing people's minds but just to do it out of celebration. That would be the way forward," she said.
"It's not about ticking boxes, it's not about PC gone mad it's about hearing from the voices that make up the brilliant world we live in."
53two’s manager and producer Alexandra Maxwell said: "The conversation we had three years ago was about the lack of actors in adverts at Christmas time. They're so popular.
"People wait for them every year to see what John Lewis are going to bring out.
"Melissa noticed and it was something we needed to address. We wanted to have the awareness without that being the focal point because that shouldn't be necessary."
Sophie, who has Down Syndrome, said: “I thought it was absolutely fantastic to be a part of the Christmas advert.
"It was so lovely to meet everyone and they were all really kind and friendly to me.
"I felt like a professional actor for two days.”
“Disabled creative talent in general is sadly lacking from our screens and industry overall," said Cherylee.
"We use our yearly Christmas advert to celebrate that talent and showcase an alternative viewpoint of the world.
"The idea this year really promotes what we’ve learnt from our learning disabled focus group and flips it on its head – it’s not always about the disabled characters receiving aid-sometimes they can provide it."
Their first ad became a hit on a shoe-string budget, but was watched by thousands.
Last year this coverage grew and with the grant from ITV this year, the team were excited to continue the annual project with even more gusto than ever.
Simon Naylor, 53two creative director, said: "Although we use the term advert, we aren’t actually selling anything other than the idea of inclusion.
"We watched the ‘big guns’ throw their multi-million pound Christmas ads out in 2019 and Melissa Johns noticed that very few of them had any disabled or diverse creatives on screen.
"The idea was born and we’ve been amazed by the support.
"This year, we hope to continue the message, but now ensuring that inclusivity extends throughout the full creative team too."
Last year’s advert had hit over 100,000 thousand views by Christmas Day and gained coverage on national news as people watched Amelia Eldred, who uses a prosthetic after having her left leg amputated, take on the role of a young dancer desperate to save Christmas for her dad.
This year creatives from TripleC’s Disabled Artists Networking Community (DANC) were asked to pitch their advert ideas and the team selected Andy Duffy as their writer.
Andy has been a part of the TripleC community for four years and has drawn upon his own experiences and family stories.
"I feel honoured and thrilled to have had my pitch chosen for TripleC and 53two’s Christmas advert," he said.
"The work these wonderful people have done to promote inclusivity and diversity has literally changed my life."
53two is a charity offering support for creatives in all disciplines through workshops, placements, opportunity and more, as well as supporting charities across the UK with mentoring, venue, equipment, tech support and other resources.
Alex explained: “At the heart of 53two is working on projects that offer opportunities to all, with a focus on diversity and accessibility.
"Working with TripleC on this Christmas project enables us to engage further with artists from the disabled community here in Manchester and offer opportunities working on creative projects.”
To view the ad for more information visit triplec.org.uk, .53two.com and follow @DANC_UK @TripleC_UK and @53two
