Coronation Street’s Michelle is struggling to come to terms with the fact that her son Ryan is on drugs. Kym Marsh, who plays the frantically worried single mum, tells TV Choice more…

Why does Steve McDonald seem so keen to help Michelle tackle her problem son?
When Steve and Michelle lived together he got very close to Ryan. You can see Steve remembering that he was a bit of a tearaway at Ryan’s age. He can see many of his own characteristics in Ryan.

Does he have an ulterior motive?
He genuinely wants to help. But soon that turns to him having a little bit of lust for Michelle!

What are Michelle’s feelings for Steve?
He broke her heart when they split up after she discovered he had a fling with Becky. But in spite of all they’ve been through, she’s fond of him and he’s definitely someone that she trusts. She thinks he’s an idiot, though — but he’s just one of those people who seems to accidentally fall into doing the wrong things.

Perhaps Steve needs someone like Michelle to keep him on the straight and narrow?
Maybe. But whether or not she‘s going to give him a second chance, you’ll have to wait and see. And even if she does, you never know what happens in Weatherfield!

Actor Sol Heras who is now playing Ryan is very dark-haired like you. But surely there isn’t supposed to be a family resemblance because of the baby-switch? [In 2007/8 it was revealed that Ryan was not Michelle’s natural son. There had been a switch at the hospital where he had been born, meaning Michelle’s real son had been brought up by another family. Alex, as he’d been named, turned up in Weatherfield for a few months before returning to the family who had raised him].

Mmm... That’s a tricky one! I don’t know if that’s been forgotten! It just doesn’t get mentioned any more!

As a mum-of-three you are busy all the time, so can we assume your singing career is permanently on hold?
I couldn’t possibly do music at the same time as working on Corrie. It would be ridiculous. One day I might decide to do it again — you never say never. But what’s great is that I still get to do a lot of singing at charity events. My daughter Emily is singing as well now so when I do a charity show, I try to get her to come. We do a duet together. We’ve been singing Adele’s Someone LIke You with the harmonies. She’s very good. She has a really good ear and she sings on her own as well. It’s really good practice for her. Emily’s only 14 but she knows she wants to have a music career. She’s very focused. I’m very proud of her. But she also took drama for GCSE and she wants to go to drama college, so we’ll see.

Which charities do you support?
I’m involved with lots. I try to rotate so every year I try to concentrate on two or three. I get many requests but if you did them all it would just be silly, your message just gets diluted. So I try to do as much as I can and alternate. At the moment I’m a patron of a charity called Destination Florida, which aims to take poorly children away for a week. I sang there recently with some of the other members of the Corrie cast. I also support the Rossendale Hospice. It’s a small local charity. Emily and I sang there just the other week.

And is your son David going to follow in your footsteps?
Definitely not! He’s mortified if you just sing Happy Birthday to him! David is 17 and not very confident, and academically he finds things difficult. He’s doing art and design at college, a 3-D design course. He’s very good at it — that’s his forte.

What about baby Polly?
She’s only 16 months old so it’s a bit early too say! She adores her big brother and sister and they adore her. I’m very lucky — I have a lovely family!

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Sue Malins