Q&A with Katie McGlynn

Scooping the award for 'Best Serial Drama Performance', at the recent NTA's, Rochdale actress Katie McGlynn, who played Sinead Tinker in Coronation Street, has certainly got an exciting career ahead of her.

Katie joined the nation's favourite soap in 2012, and played the much-loved, quirky Sinead, until the character lost her battle with cervical cancer in heartbreaking scenes last October.

Style caught up with Katie to chat about the NTA's, her opinion on online trolls, life after the Street, and her 'mean' spag bol...

Have you been busy since leaving Corrie?

Yeah I’ve been pretty busy to be honest. I had just over a week in Mexico which was nice. I managed to squeeze it in around other stuff because I’ve had a lot going on. I’ve constantly been in and out of London. I’ve got things coming up, nothing I can say, but I start something next week which will be fun.

Are you still living up North?

I’m living up here at the moment. I have been toying with the idea of moving to London, but I’m going to see how I get on living up here and how often I need to be down there.

What would you love to work on in future?

I’d love to be in one of the big, gritty dramas!

Are you missing Corrie?

I’m not actually no, because I’ve been involved in so much; I don’t feel like I’ve fully left yet. I miss the people more than anything, but I’m not far away so I’m always going to keep in touch with them. So hopefully I won’t need to miss it that much.

How did it feel to win the NTA award for Best Serial Drama Performance?

I wasn’t expecting it. It was just nice to be nominated, so to win, I was just like “what the heck?!”. I was really happy. And awards like the NTA’s are so grand, you see all sorts of people. I bumped into Joanna Lumley and David Schwimmer – I’m a huge Friend’s fan. We walked past him in the corridor and he said congratulations; I was like “oh my gosh!”. So many amazing people said congratulations.

It was lovely that you dedicated the award to your Grandad Denis. How do you think he'd have reacted to you winning?

I think he’d be over the moon! He’d be really happy. I think he’d be annoyed that I was leaving his favourite soap though.

Following the tragic news about Caroline Flack, what’s your opinion on media scrutiny and online trolling? Do things need to change?

It’s tragic and I really feel for Caroline’s family and friends. You never know what is going on in someone’s head. I think everyone has assumed that it’s to do with the media and all the trolling. I do think something needs to change in the way that the media highlight things that don’t necessarily need to be highlighted. I think there does need to be some sort of policing with the trolls.

How do you deal with trolling?

I try not to look at it. But sometimes, - I know I shouldn’t - but I do read the comments. And just reading a little bit of it puts me in a really bad mood all day and makes me question a lot of things. It does upset me. I’m a bit biased because I guess I’m in the public eye, but I do think people need to realise that we’re all normal people and just because our jobs are in the public eye it doesn’t give people the right to say whatever they want about us or write whatever they want. We are human beings.

You’ve mentioned that you’ve been through your own mental health struggles, especially after filming Sinead’s storyline?

Yeah, ITV offered help while we were filming, but I felt fine. But it was afterwards, when I watched some of it back with the audience; I got really upset. I was just randomly crying for no reason and that’s not like me because I’m not really much of a cryer. A lot of my friends say I’m a bit hard and I’m not, but it just takes a lot for me to cry. So the fact that I was randomly crying didn’t make sense to me, so I went to see someone about it just to make sure I was ok. And they said I was grieving because I’d played the character for so long. When I watched it I felt like I watching my friend die and it was just really sad. And then the realisation that I’d actually left Corrie and my friends there, and the big life change.

We can see from your Instagram that you’re on a massive health kick...

Yeah, the thing that the storyline has taught me is no one is invincible. I’ve met young women who are going through what Sinead went through, in real life. They looked young and healthy and had their world at their feet and then this hits them like a bag of bricks. For me, it’s all well and good losing weight, but it’s more about being healthy inside. You never know what’s going to be around the corner, so I just want to be ready to rock ‘n’ roll.

The storyline raised awareness of cervical cancer and has helped to increase the amount of women going for their smear tests which is amazing…

Yeah, I’m really pleased about that. We did the storyline for a reason. It’s raising awareness so that people know the symptoms and the signs, so they can get ahead of it, and so that women go for their smear tests. Smear tests can save your life - I’d say to anyone who is putting it off you just need to go and get checked for peace of mind. Just because I’ve left [Coronation Street] it doesn’t mean I’m going to stop talking about it, because I think it’s really important.

Your friend Lisa George is on Dancing on Ice at the moment - would you ever go on it?

I’m quite clumsy so I don’t think I’d be the best participant. I’d be like Bambi. I’m super proud of Lisa though, I really am.

If you could choose three dinner guests who would they be? And what would you cook?

Jennifer Aniston, Adam Sandler and Johnny Depp. I’d make my mean spag bol!

To check you’re still a Rochdale girl…

What does cruckle mean?

Going over on your ankle!

If someone is ‘pecking your head’ what are they doing?

Doing your head in! Oh that’s another colloquialism isn’t it, erm, annoying someone!

What’s a ginnel?

It’s a thin passage. I thought that was a real word?

Is it a bap, barm, teacake, bun, roll, or muffin?

Gosh, well this is the big debate. I know a lot of Rochdale people would say different to what I say. If it’s like a sandwich I would have to call it a muffin, but oh god, it is like a roll and I know a lot of people say bap.

What does "it’s cracking the flags" mean?

It’s really hot.

If someone says "it’s like Blackpool illuminations in here", what’s happened?

There’s a lot of lights going on! My dad says that a lot.

How would you encourage young people in Rochdale to follow their dreams, as you have done?

If you want it enough, you need to just go and get it. You have to 100% commit to it and just focus on what you want to do. You just need to keep you head up and keep going. I do think anything is possible.

Ruth Parkinson