'I was working in Tesco six days a week but then landed my dream job on Coronation Street'
Coronation Street fans have been introduced to newcomer Betsy this week, played by Sydney Martin, as her identity as DS Lisa Swain's (Vicky Myers) daughter is finally unveiled.
OK! had a chance to speak to the actress as she dished all on how she landed her dream role. “I could not have asked for a better first opportunity,” she said.
The cobbles is Sydney’s first TV role at 22-years-old, although her character Betsy, is 16. Sydney described it as being able to “replay her teenage years” although mischievous Betsy is far from what the actress was like as a teen herself.
The actress auditioned for a couple of smaller roles for the soap in January this year, which she didn’t land. However, her luck changed two weeks later, when she was given a call back for a series regular.
Betsy and DS Swain
After the long two month process, she received the exciting call from her agent that she’d landed the role. “My agent rang and said ‘go hand in your notice’,” Sydney explained. “I was doing six days a week at Tesco, so it was quite the career change,” she laughed.
In fact, she was so excited to hand in her notice at the supermarket, that she did that before even phoning her parents to tell them the exciting news.
“I did go to Tesco to hand my notice in first,” she chuckled. Although she did explain that her dad told her she shouldn’t have handed it in so soon. “‘They’re not going to give you a reference at Tesco!’” he exclaimed, although hilariously, Sydney assured him she wouldn’t need a reference from the supermarket.
Aside from worrying about her Tesco references, the actress said her parents were over the moon at her landing the role. The star recently had her first picture in her magazine, and revealed her parents bought about ten of them. “I think it’s already framed, they just love it!”
Betsy and Carla
As for what Corrie viewers can expect to see on screen with Betsy, Sydney says she's "cocky but she's also such a smart cookie." Having lost one of her mother's while she was on duty with the police, Sydney says her character "has a bit of disrespect for the career." However, there is some playfulness and naivety with Betsy, who thinks the law "doesn't apply to her" as her mum, DS Swain still serves in the force.
Viewers have already seen Betsy 'blackmailing' villain Joel Deering (Calum Lill). Betsy threatened to uncover Joel's dodgy antics, after he saw her friend Sabrina in a state of distress outside the police station as her brother had been arrested. He gave over his business card, while pouring some alcohol into her coffee cup, telling Sabrina to 'give him a call'.
"It's so nice to have a female character bite back at a man that's nearly twice her age," the actress said, teasing that she's definitely going to give Joel a "run for his money".