Faye Brookes will unleash her "sexy and feisty side" in her character's upcoming lesbian romance on 'Coronation Street'.
Faye Brookes
The 30-year-old actress - who portrays Kate Connor in the longstanding soap - is set to spark up a romance with her best friend Rana Nazir (Bhavna Limbachia) in the programme's upcoming episodes, and the brunette beauty has revealed her character will prove she is not the "nice girl" everyone has perceived her to be.
Speaking to the Daily Star newspaper about the plot line, she said: "Finally it's time to unleash Kate's sexy and feisty side. She's always been the nice girl in the background but now she's getting ready to do something for herself."
Faye has hinted her character was surprised by the turn of events on the cobbles because Kate believed Rana to be "homophobic", and she didn't realise her 33-year-old co-star's alter-ego was off hand with her because she had feelings for her.
Faye said: "Kate genuinely thought that Rana was being homophobic and she could see that she was struggling being around her and Imogen. But it wasn't that at all."
But it isn't until Rana enjoys a night out with Sophie Webster (Brooke Vincent) and her on-screen sister Rosie (Helen Flanagan) that she decides to open up about her sexuality.
Faye said: "Rana goes and gets really drunk with Rosie and Sophie Webster and there's something about the way they speak about life and relationships that makes Rana get this fire in her belly to come over and just tell Kate what's going on and how she feels. What's coming up is that Kate needs to be a friend more than anything, so they go to the Rovers and talk about it and Rana admits that she has feelings for her. And because that moment comes from nowhere, you don't know what else will come from nowhere."
However, Faye is apprehensive about getting too close with Rana in case it impacts on her job.
She added: "Kate doesn't want to push her [Rana] away because she sees that she's struggling and there's no one else that knows apart from me.
"When they do become closer, it will change. Plus, Kate is really good friends with Zee [Zeedan Nazir] and they work together, so keeping it a secret from him is tough.
"These next few months are all about [empowerment] for Kate."
Although Kate tries to be a supportive friend to Rana, she also starts to show a "backbone" in the intense scenes.
She said:"There's a lot of emotion going on for both of them but they finally see Kate with a bit of a backbone. She has passion and she cares about this. She's not always the sweet girl".