Coronation Street newbie Lottie Henshall will never forget the moment she heard she'd landed the role of scheming Jade Rowan in the hit soap.
She was at a gym cleaning sweat off a treadmill when the call came.
Within seconds, she was wiping away tears from her cheeks instead as her audition dream came true.
Lottie, 25, who has played teaching assistant Jade since September, still loves reliving that moment.
“It had been just over a week since I’d done my screen test with Alan Halsall, who plays Tyrone,” she said.
“It was one of the worst weeks of my life because I was so anxious.
“I’ve always wanted to be on Corrie so that week was tough, just waiting.
“I was working as a gym receptionist and cleaning a treadmill, thinking, ‘This cannot be my life’, when I got the call from my agent.
“I burst into tears. It was that feeling when you’ve worked so hard for something you’ve always wanted. I quit the gym that day. I was like, ‘I ain’t cleaning that sweat, I’m off’.”
Lottie, from Derbyshire, grew up in a house full of Corrie fanatics – so her parents were delighted when she landed the role.
She said: “It made them so proud. Mum has even helped me with my lines. Dad gets really emotional watching me, bless him.”
Lottie’s character Jade is secretly the daughter of dead Corrie serial killer John Stape, who married Fiz Brown and got her pregnant with daughter Hope, then broke her heart.
After arriving on the cobbles, she moved in with the unsuspecting Fiz and her partner Tyrone to tutor her nine-year-old half-sister – with viewers not knowing they were related for months.
Lottie says: “I’ve had to keep it secret since July. It was so hard.”
Now Jade – who has taken Hope to visit to their father’s grave – is trying to drive a wedge between Fiz and Tyrone.
She’s also been painting fake bruises on the youngster and taking snaps so she can frame the couple for child abuse.
The drama will end with the pair having Hope taken off them by social services.
Lottie says: “Jade has grown up believing Fiz is evil and arrived on the Street determined to go to any lengths to protect Hope.
“To come into Corrie and play a villain has been fantastic – it doesn’t get much better than that.”
Lottie says she’s had a lot of grief online but relishes reading everyone’s opinions.
“I actually really enjoy the criticism,” she said. “People have such different opinions of Jade, which I love. It’s fascinating.”
