User:Alex250P/Kirsty Soames

Kirsty Soames is a fictional character on the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Natalie Gumede, who made her first appearance on 7 September 2011.

Kirsty was introduced as a love interest for Tyrone Dobbs (Alan Halsall). While interviewed on This Morning series producer Phil Collinson said that Kirsty's arrival marked the start of a "big storyline" for Tyrone. He added that Tyrone's involvement with Kirsty would not be a "smooth ride". After the character's controlling behaviour was seen on-screen, it was confirmed in March 2012 that Kirsty and Tyrone would become the centre of a domestic abuse storyline; with The Sun reporting that Kirsty would "begin psychologically abusing Tyrone, culminating in a vicious, violent attack."

Storylines
In September 2011, Tommy Duckworth pays Kirsty to speak to his friend, Tyrone at a bar. She later swaps numbers with Tyrone and agrees to see him again. Tommy soon tells Tyrone that she was paid to speak to him but she confesses her genuine interest and agrees to meet up with Tyrone again. She soon makes enemies with Tyrone's other lodger Tina McIntyre after Tina parks Rita Sullivan's car awkwardly and boxes Kirsty's car in. Tina later accuses Kirsty of scratching Rita's car in spite of her. However, Kirsty denies the vandalism and reveals to Tina that she is a police officer. Kirsty becomes possessive of Tyrone and continues to cause problems for Tina, including having her stopped by a security guard at a shopping centre. She accidentally has Rita stopped for speeding, but she later sorts the situation out. When Tyrone overhears Kirsty admitting to setting Tina up, he breaks up with her and ask her to leave. Kirsty tries to see Tyrone, but Tina stops her. She later follows Tina and Tyrone in her police car. When Tina brakes suddenly for a traffic light, Kirsty drives into the back of her. She is taken to the hospital where she is told she is pregnant. Tyrone talks things through with Kirsty and decides to give her a second chance. Tina does not accept this and tells Kirsty she has reported her for harassment, but she dropped the case for Tyrone, much to his and Kirsty's delight. However, she tells Kirsty that this changes nothing and she does not like her. Tommy tells Tyrone that he witnessed Kirsty meeting up with another man and Tyrone confronts Kirsty. She reveals that she met up with her cousin to get him a car for Valentine's Day. Tyrone apologises, but Kirsty leaves. The following day, Tyrone goes to the station and tries to apologise to Kirsty. He then proposes and she accepts. Kirsty tells Tommy that she and Tyrone are a family and no one will ever come between them. Tommy tells Tyrone that Kirsty threatened him, but Tyrone throws Tommy out.

When Tyrone manages to persuade Kirsty into going to the town hall and seeing what Tommy's mysterious father Terry Duckworth (Nigel Pivaro), they are caught by Councillor Pete and Terry. Then, Kirsty and Tyrone inform Terry that the police have arrested and charged Councillor Pete for accepting bribes. But after doing this with Tyrone, Kirsty gets the sack and loses her job as a police officer. When she get home, she roars at Tyrone and hits him with a large spoon. The next day, Tyrone has a cut on his lip and tells everybody that some boxes fell on top of him. Feeling guilty, Kirsty then returns home after hearing Tyrone's cover-up story and promises that it will never happen again. The couple get back on track and as Kirsty's 30th birthday approaches; Tyrone organises a surprise party to her dislike. Thinking he is doing the right thing, he invites her parents Edwin and Alison who are shocked to discover that Kirsty is pregnant and engaged, to which Tyrone is confused as Kirsty had told him that she had informed her parents of her pregnancy. thumb|Kirsty attacks [[Tyrone Dobbs|Tyrone for a second time. Actress, Gumede said the attack was brought on by the appearance of her father, and stated that their relationship had been "extremely abusive". ]] After Beth Tinker reveals that Kirsty has also been sacked from the police force, her father rounds on her resulting in them both leaving. After the party, Kirsty rows with Tyrone over his deception - and although Tyrone insists his intentions were good, Kirsty wrestles with him and slams him into a door. Tyrone flees in fear, and when he returns - Kirsty has packed a suitcase and tells him she is leaving him, as she is a danger to him. The couple then have a heart-to-heart about their childhoods, with Kirsty revealing that her father regularly abused her and her mother until she moved out on her eighteenth birthday, Tyrone forgives Kirsty and tells her that it is not her fault for her violent outbursts.

In June 2012, Kirsty uses her connections at the police force to help capture loan shark Rick Neelan with the help of enemy; Tina McIntyre. Later that month she becomes increasingly jealous of Tyrone's friendship with his ex-girlfriend Fiz Stape (Jennie McAlpine), and in a fit of rage she begins throwing plates and smashes up a photo of Tyrone and Jack Duckworth, which sparks Tyrone to call her 'mad'. She later apologises and blames her pregnancy hormones, but in July when Tyrone enlists Fiz's help to organise a baby shower for Kirsty she becomes jealous again and tells Tyrone he doesn't want him talking or even being in the same room as Fiz.

Casting
Casting for Kirsty was announced on July 8, 2011 with Natalie Gumede winning the part. On being cast in the role Gumede said, "From the moment I read the script, I knew I was going to love playing Kirsty and I can't wait to see how the story unfolds" adding, "This is a dream role for me and I'm looking forward to creating a huge storm in Weatherfield". Gumede filmed her first scenes in early July.

In an interview with the Daily Record she described filming the domestic violence scenes as "daunting" and "draining" and the biggest "challenge" of her career so far.

In June 2012, Gumede revealed that she was "terrified" at the prospect of filming scenes in which her character gave birth. She explained that "artificial baby bump makes filming difficult, especially in the warm sunshine" and that the upcoming scenes would provide a "further challenge in her career."

Storyline development
Upon hearing of the abuse storyline, Gumede and co-star Alan Halsall researched male domestic abuse charities such as ManKind - that support male victims of domestic violence, in order to portray the storyline as realistically as possible. She later told the Daily Record that "there isn't much from the female abuser's point of view to read up on, it was really a case of thinking about it from the victim's point of view." She later said that she found it hard and "draining" to film scenes where she attacked co-star Halsall, and that although "it was all camera tricks, the place I had to emotionally go to was quite ugly."

After attacking Tyrone a second time, Kirsty attempts to leave him fearing that she is a danger to him, in an interview with The Sun the actress stated that Kirsty "hates herself" for what she is doing to Tyrone.

Backstory
In an interview with Digital Spy, Gumede explained that Kirsty's violence stemmed from her childhood. She revealed that "Kirsty had an abusive childhood. Her father hit her on a regular basis up until her 18th birthday, when she left home. The inference is that she's had very little contact with her family since then."

Reception
The character of Kirsty has been received positively by viewers and critics alike. Gumede told the Lancashire Telegraph that "it has been really interesting how people have said they felt sorry for her" and that "viewers are intrigued to see what happens next as it’s a really complex story for a complex character."

For her portrayal of Kirsty, Gumede won Best Newcomer at the 2012 British Soap Awards.