Coronation Street star Ellie Leach made sure she was well-equipped to deal with the sensitive storyline of her character, Faye Windass.

Faye has been diagnosed with early menopause and suffering with all the emotional and physical symptoms that comes with that. It's a storyline that is important to highlight and a subject Ellie, 21, says she's she's immersed herself in.

"I always try and put myself in her shoes and think how would I feel If this happened to me?" Ellie says. "So it is really sad for her. She's not really had a very easy life, has she?"

Here, Ellie talks all about Faye's diagnosis, how her on-screen boyfriend Craig Tinker tries to support her and the troubles Faye faces ahead…

Are you excited about this storyline?

I was really excited. Obviously, it's not something that I've experienced before, which is usually the case with most of the storylines. And obviously, they are very real. But it's not often that they've happened to you, personally. So I was excited to explore more about that. And obviously raise awareness, because not a lot of people know about it really.

Have you had to do kind of a lot of research?

Yeah, definitely. I've had to do a lot of like research. And we've obviously had help from the research team at work. But you have to do your own research, because you don't ever want to get anything wrong. I would never want to offend anybody by saying the wrong thing or doing the wrong thing. It’s a really touchy subject, and you need to make sure that you're getting it right.

Do you feel for Faye getting this diagnosis?

Yeah, of course. I mean she’s pretty much the same age as me. And I always think, how would I feel if I was in this position? And now it's really upsetting. You don't want to be told at 20 years old that you won't be able to have any kids, or you can't be like a normal 20-year-old. So obviously, it's really upsetting. And I always try and put myself in her shoes and think how would I feel If this happened to me? So it is really sad for her. She's not really had a very easy life, has she?

Is it starting to put strain on her relationship with Craig as well?

Yeah, definitely I think someone in her situation wouldn’t know how to control emotions anyway. So it's hard enough, trying to figure yourself out, without having to try and help somebody else do it as well, when you don't actually know what's going to happen in the future.

Is Faye taking Craig’s help the wrong way?

Yeah, definitely. I mean, he’s always tried to do his best to make sure that she's okay. But I think she's struggling to figure it out on her own. And by him, not putting pressure on her, but just trying to help so much that she feels like she needs space. She needs to figure this out for myself before listening to what Craig thinks is best for her. He's doing it in the nicest way possible, but I think she's probably just thinking, ‘leave me alone!’

She does need to get her head around it

Yeah, yeah. And as well, with the menopause comes like the mood swings. So that probably doesn't help with the fact that she's nice one second and then horrible the next. It’s a bit of a wave of up and down and he’s probably thinking that he can’t do anything right. It must be really hard.

Why is Faye angry with Craig when he talks to Carla behind her back?

I think because, like I said Faye’s still trying to get our own head around it. I think she probably doesn't want anybody else to know. I think she's embarrassed about it, to be honest. Even though she shouldn't be, because it's not an embarrassing thing – it’s really serious. And obviously, it's not nice that it’s happening to her so young. But it does happen to women, and it's not an embarrassing thing. But I think because she doesn't know how to deal with it yet, she doesn’t want anyone to know. And she feels like Craig’s gone behind her back. And I think it is the fact that he’s gone behind her back and not spoken to Faye about it first. He’s just gone straight to Carla and said ‘by the way you need to be like this with Faye’. Faye didn’t ask for that, she just wants to be treated normally, she doesn’t want people to be acting differently around her.

Can you tell us about the present Craig gets Faye?

Yeah, I think he’s just trying to be so nice and supportive. But she's just not getting it. She just thinks he's just being too much, too soon. And I she feels like he's putting a bit of pressure on her to act a different way, because she's been diagnosed with this thing, and it changes everything. Whereas Faye doesn't want that to happen. She doesn't want it to change things. Obviously, she knows that will in the long term, but I think she just wants everything to still be normal. And Craig's kind of going out of his way to make it less and less normal. Even though it is a nice gesture and everything that he does, is never out of malice, and it's always to support her. I just she finds it a bit too overpowering – she can’t bear it.

Why does Craig end up packing and leaving? Is that Faye’s suggestion for him to go?

I think he probably realises that Faye’s getting annoyed at him. And he doesn't know what to do to stop that from happening because he just thinks he's being nice and doing lovely gestures. And he is, but obviously, she doesn't really see it that way. So I think it’s mainly on Faye, I think it's a little bit of him going, ‘you need your space, don't you?’ And he finally realises that he’s been a bit too much and has put too much pressure on her. So it is kind of like a joint decision. But then Faye is like ‘Yeah, if that’s what you want to do, then you do that’. And he does it because he thinks that’s what she wants. In reality, she doesn't want him to go because she loves him. But if he thinks that that's what she wants, he'll do it.

How does Faye feel seeing Craig with Jess at this engagement stall?

I don't think she feels like anything would be going on between them two. I think it’s just the fact that he's obviously moved out and he's having fun and messing around with Jess – he's enjoying himself. And Faye feels really sad and wants him to come back. And so I think it's more about him enjoying himself, and she thinks he’s fine without her whereas she’s struggling without him.

Can you tell us how Faye comes to make a pass that Michael, what kind of leads up to that moment?

I think she's just really sad about Craig and she's really missing him. And I think it happens after she sees Craig and Jess making a pass at Michael. If that is the case then obviously she’s seen him enjoying himself and she's gone, ‘Oh, well, I’m moping around about you when I shouldn't be because you're clearly enjoying yourself’. It’s not out of spite, but maybe a little bit. But in the long term, she's probably not enjoying it as much as she thinks she would. She’s doing it because she’s upset and feels like Craig’s fine without her, and she doesn’t feel the same.

Coronation Street continues on weekdays on ITV.

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