'I cried my eyes out after landing my dream role on Coronation Street'

A Fylde coast actor has revealed how she ‘cried her eyes out’ after discovering she had landed a role on Coronation Street, with the news arriving just one day before her A-level exams.

Anya Dewin went on to make her debut on the ITV soap earlier this year as Lucy Parkinson, marking a major milestone in her acting career just weeks after completing her Year 13 studies at AKS in Lytham.

The young actor described the opportunity to appear on one of the country’s longest-running television soaps as a dream come true, having wanted to act professionally since she was young.

Recalling the moment she discovered she had secured the role, Anya said: “How I found out about the role was mental. It was a day before my A-levels, so obviously I was revising. I was waiting for my agent to message me to say either no or yeah, so I had my phone next to me and I just couldn't revise for my English Literature exam!

“I had to get my mum to take my phone off me so I could read Tess of the d'Urbervilles! Then my mum said ‘oh, your agent’s been in touch, she wants you to ring her’. I went upstairs - oh my God! - and I was like, ‘hello...?’ And she just said ‘we're just letting you know that you got the job!’ I cried my eyes out!

“I was just absolutely buzzing. I had to go for a walk to my best friend's house because I just couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it was real. My dream had come true and everything that I'd been working for had really paid off. So yeah, it was lovely.”

Anya’s arrival in Weatherfield saw viewers introduced to Lucy as Richie’s daughter, with Richie also being revealed as Tim Metcalfe’s cousin. The role came at an exciting time for the aspiring actor, who had only recently finished her studies at AKS before making the leap from school to professional television acting.

Reflecting on the experience, she said: “It's so exciting because I've always wanted to be on TV and to be an actor, so to go straight from school to doing it is just a dream come true. I'm working with the best people and I'm learning so much - I've gained so much experience because obviously the actors that I'm working with have done it for ages, so they're really good mentors.”

Following her television debut, AKS congratulated Anya on her achievement, with Anya sharing a photograph on Instagram of herself smiling outside the iconic Rovers Return pub. Countless fellow cast members posted messages of support under her picture, with Anya smiling as she explains how welcome she’s been made to feel by her co-stars as she settles into her new role.

“It was lovely [to get so much support from the other cast members] because it's all like a big family at Corrie and everyone has taken me under their wing,” she said. “Even now, because obviously I'm still such a noob, they're always asking if I'm okay. They’re always messaging me and to get that attention on Instagram just to say ‘well done’ was so lovely.”

Playing Lucy has presented Anya with new challenges, with the character having a very different personality from her own. She said: “Playing such a complex character has been really difficult because Lucy is very different to me as a person, but I wouldn't have found it as exciting or rewarding without the crew and the people there, because they've all been so nice.

“They don't make it nerve-wracking. At school, I only performed in front of like 10 people and now I'm performing for the sound crew, the camera crew, directors... really big names, and the actors as well, who I really want to impress because they're all really good! Without them being so nice and welcoming, I don't think I would have played Lucy to my best potential.

“But it’s also been so fun being able to play with the character. I've never been in a fight before! Now I’m grabbing someone by the neck! So that's exciting, and switching things up and getting really angry has been really exciting.”

Despite the challenges of taking on a character so different from herself, Anya said the opportunity to step into another person’s shoes was one of the things she loved most about acting.

She said: “I love not being me - that’s why I love to act, because I get to step out of reality and be something more. That’s the whole point of it - we’re always so judged, but when you’re being someone else, you can do whatever you want.

“I just think it’s so fun.”