Sophie Webster

Sophie Webster (born Lauren Webster) is the youngest daughter of Kevin and Sally Webster. She has an older sister, Rosie, and two half-brothers Jake (who died shortly after his birth) and Jack.

Sophie, who was one of the few religious residents of the Street, developed feelings for her best friend Sian Powers in 2010 and subsequently came out as a lesbian. She has previously worked at the Corner Shop for Dev and Sunita Alahan and volunteered to support local charities, where she was responsible for re-introducing a homeless Dennis Tanner to his old flame Rita Sullivan.

Background
Sophie was born in 1994 to parents Kevin Webster and Sally Webster. Sally and Kevin planned to call their new daughter Lauren, however, Rosie kept calling the baby "Sophie" after her doll. Kevin and Sally warmed to Rosie's suggestion and later changed her name by law. For the first five years of her life, Sophie’s parents were very much in love but unfortunately, Kevin’s affair changed everything. With Sally struggling to bring up her girls on her own, she made bad relationship decisions - most notably when she went out with a psychotic man, Greg Kelly. He went on to kidnap Sophie. After this distressing incident Kevin and Sally rekindled their love for each other and remarried. Some years later Sophie overheard her parents arguing about an affair Sally had with her boss, Ian Davenport, whose daughter Gemma was friends with Rosie. She feared they would get a divorce but this never happened. Needless to say she had a very stressful childhood.

Casting
Ashleigh Middleton played Sophie from her birth up until March 1997 when Emma Woodward who was just three years old at the time took over the role. In 2004, Emma quit the role of Sophie to concentrate on her school work. Coronation Street staff ran auditions and Brooke Vincent was the successful candidate. In an interview Brooke revealed that her role in Coronation Street was just part of her life, stating she doesn't see it as a job because it's so much fun. She also works a Saturday job and attends school but manages to fit all three into her schedule. “I have a normal life and the Corrie stuff is my bonus life,” As the character grew older Coronation Street bosses were impressed by Brooke's performance as Sophie and decided to give her more storylines and in order to do so they cast some classmates for her. They were eventually cast in December. Coronation Street told the Daily Star that: "Brooke is an amazing actress and the introduction of two characters her own age will give the writers free rein to come up with some fantastic plots for her."

Personality
Sophie is portrayed as a determined, strong-willed young woman who is devoted to her family and friends. As a younger teen she went through a phase of being rebellious and causing criminal damage. She also pretended to be pregnant in order to garner attention from her parents. Sophie has since converted to Christianity and was baptised in 2009. After the revelation of her lesbian relationship, Sophie left home with her girlfriend to start a new life. She returned some weeks later due to financial issues. ITV publicity describes Sophie as a girl who is determined to live her life her own way after being neglected by her parents in favour of elder sister Rosie. Also stating that even after her hardships she went through growing up she has turned out pretty well-adjusted with a good sense of humour. What's on TV magazine describes her as not being as bright as her sister Rosie, but always gets her own way as she is the apple of her father's eye. This may be contested as in more recent years Sophie has been portrayed as far more intelligent than her older sister. Fellow actor Craig Gazey describes the character as very gobby and a perfect match for his character Graeme Proctor.

Relationships
Sophie briefly dated Ben Richardson before discovering he had been unfaithful. She also went on a date with a teen called Lee but his main interest was sex, Sophie turned down his affections. During her break-up with Ben and her rebound date, Sophie seemed thoroughly heartbroken and relied heavily on her friend Sian Powers. This close friendship developed into a relationship even though both Sian and Sophie had been involved in heterosexual relationships beforehand. The attraction seemed to come as a surprise to both of the girls. As of September 2010, Sophie's mother Sally has welcomed Sian into the family home.

Sophie has rather recently developed a close relationship with her sister Rosie. The two spent the majority of their time together as children arguing and competing, but since Sophie's revelation of her lesbian relationship, Rosie has been supportive. When Sophie briefly left home, Rosie was the one person from home she kept in contact with.

Sophie has a strained relationship with her parents but as of late the relationships have become closer. The family saw some bonding in early 2010 when Sally was diagnosed with breast cancer. She has argued with her father Kevin because of his lack of interest in her personal life. Unbeknownst to Sophie, some of Kevin's agitation and neglect was caused by his stressful affair with Molly Dobbs. Sophie is also close with Emily Bishop, presumably because they attend the same church and Emily offers spiritual guidance. She had a friendship with Ryan Connor but after it was revealed that she was dating Sian, Ryan became disgusted and taunted and threatened Sophie and Sian for some time. Sophie did have close friendships with Chesney Brown and Cameron McIntyre as they were all the same age and did many things together, however Cameron left the immediate area two weeks after they met, and Sophie hasn't been seen with Chesney for some time.

At the end of 2011, Sophie and Sian's wedding day arrived. However it unfortunately ended up with Sian leaving Weatherfield with her mum because of a kiss between Sophie and Amber months earlier.

In 2012, after Sophie had got over Sian, she began to see Jenna Kamara. The two started off with an unconventional relationship, as Jenna was Sophie's physiotherapist. They broke up in the middle of 2013 because Jenna believed they were both at very different stages of their lives.

Sophie began working at a homeless shelter when she met Maddie Heath, a younger homeless girl. The two had a bad first run-in when Maddie stole Sally's purse and a sentimental watch. Sophie tried to get the watch back, and when she succeeded, Maddie stole it again. Sophie was very angry and the two got into an argument when Maddie unexpectedly kissed Sophie before running away.

Storylines
Until her pre-teen years, Sophie hadn't really had any particular storylines, apart from a life of hell with Sally's psycho partner Greg Kelly in the late 1990's, having a feud with David Platt in 2001 and being neglected by her own mother in favour of Rosie. Sophie often showed jealousy of sister Rosie and constantly fought and competed with her too. In 2004, Sophie developed a good bond with Chesney Brown, and the pair did most things together.

One of Sophie's first story-lines revolved around her journey into secondary school. Sophie had arrived for her first day when she was promptly sent home for not being registered with Weatherfield High. Sally found out and was furious although the error turned out to be her own. She had failed to fill in the application forms adequately due to her indecision regarding whether Sophie would attend Weatherfield High or Oakhill Private School (as Rosie had done). Sophie had to go without school for weeks as Mr Lewis, the headteacher of the school, would not give her admission. Sally looked up other schools in the area to find they all had terrible reputations. When Sally was dropping Rosie off at Oakhill, she saw Mr Lewis taking his daughter for her first day there. Remembering he said Jessica had Sophie's place in Weatherfield High, Sally threatened to tell the local newspaper about his lies, which earned Sophie a place at Weatherfield High. Sophie and Chesney almost fell out when Chesney's stepfather Les had gossiped to the street residents about Chesney seeing a naked Sally in the shower. The two remained friends anyway after they made up, and in winter that year, Sophie developed a friendship with classmate Nicolette Seddon. Soon, they pair realised they were related and when Sally found out, she was furious as Nicolette was so illicit and unpleasant. Sophie and Nicolette began hanging out in the street and were rude to Gail Platt and Roy Cropper, pushing Sally to breaking point. When Rosie and her boyfriend Craig Harris were looking after Sophie for Sally, Sophie went out to see Nicolette after being told not to leave the house. When Sally returned to find Sophie gone she was frantic, but Sophie was later found by Rosie and Craig. A livid Kevin and Sally soon discovered she had been smoking and after a huge row with Nicolette's parents, Sophie and Nicolette were banned from seeing each other ever again. In early 2006, while Rosie was away, Sophie found out that Craig cheated on her with Suzie Watkins. When Rosie returned from her trip away, Sophie revealed to her sister that Craig had Suzie in his bedroom. Despite not believing her at first, Rosie split from Craig, leaving Sophie showing little sympathy for Rosie. In the summer, she and Chesney started hanging out with Chesney's friend Cameron McIntyre. Sophie fell for Cameron, which left Chesney dissappointed. The trio started making mischief by prank-calling residents of the street and taking horror DVDs from Les. The films had an 18 certificate so Sally was annoyed when she found them watching one in her living room and threw them out the house, leaving them with nothing more to do. Cameron then stole cigarettes and an enamoured Sophie took one, despite being warned by Chesney not to do so. Sally later found them in the ginnel behind the houses and smelt tobacco. The finger of blame pointed at Chesney as Cameron and Sophie had passed the cigarettes to him to hide. Cameron felt bad for Chesney being bored so took him round to Sophie's and she agreed to have him in, although she was in huge trouble with her parents as it was. When Sally returned from work, Chesney speedily left the house after being told to do so by her. Later on, Sophie stole money from Sally to buy cigarettes for her and Cameron, but Sally assumed the thief was Chesney as his family were known for stealing. When Sally went round to Chesney's to argue with his parents, Sophie and Cameron started feel guilty over what they did and Sophie told him to go home so she could sort it out once and for all. She did so, telling her and Chesney's shocked parents everything that happened. Sally apologised to Chesney, and everything carried on as normal, but Sophie's friendship with Cameron broke off and he never returned. Later that year, Sophie and Chesney found an old diary in the attic of No.5. It belonged to the late Ivy Brennan and Sophie started convincing people that she was psychic, Vera Duckworth even paid her to do a reading. When Rosie found out she told David Platt who said it was his step-gran's old diary. Sophie handed it over to David who was shocked to discover that his mum almost gone through with an abortion, in which Ivy recorded in her diary. David confronted his mum about it on Christmas Day.

On Valentine's Day 2007, she got her mum to write a valentine's card, which Sally assumed was for Chesney, (Sophie purposefully saying nothing to the contrary), however, she posted it through Norris Cole's door. Norris recognised Sally's writing from a cheque she wrote him and was convinced that Sally had a crush on him. The truth was soon revealed and Sophie was made to apologise. Months later, Sophie vented her anger on Fiz Brown's motor scooter after finding out Fiz was dating her drama teacher, John Stape, who Sophie has a crush on. Her sister Rosie Webster soon had an affair with John and when this was announced, trouble emerged, as John was Rosie's teacher. Kevin attacked John on the street, and was later arrested. This heightened the differences between her and Rosie, and they got into fights and arguments. Tension relaxed when Kevin was released from prison. In May 2008, Sophie gave Chesney some help to get with her friend Kayleigh Morton. In September, Rosie mysteriously disappeared. Three weeks later Kevin received a postcard saying "Sophie's next". Sophie later revealed that it was she who sent the postcards as she was tired of all the attention Rosie was getting. Even though Sophie and Rosie declared a truce, the division between them lingered. In January 2009, Kevin found a used pregnancy test in the bin. Suspecting it was Sally's, he asked her but she denied that she was pregnant. They then believed that it is their wild child daughter Rosie that was pregnant, but she also denied it. It was then that Sophie revealed it was her. It was later revealed that she made the pregnancy up in a bid for attention. She revealed all to Sally after being pressed about going to the doctor.

In March 2010, Sophie realised that she was in love with her best friend Sian Powers. This all kicked off when Sophie told Sian that Ryan tried it on with her so Sian came back to Weatherfield to shout at Ryan. He turned it on Sophie causing her and Sian to fall out. As Ryan and Sian waited for the bus to get to the train station, Sian found out that Ryan did try it on with Sophie and went round to apologise to her for what happened. Sian told Sophie that she was more important to her than any lad and Sophie kissed her. After the kiss Sian burst out crying and ran out of the house. The next day, Sophie was still very sad about what happened the previous night and decided to stay home from school, telling her dad she was ill, which at first Kevin didn't believe. Later that day, Sophie told Kevin that she wasn't ill and that she was missing a specific person, Sian. Kevin though it was Ben. Sophie then tried to track down Sian, but found it hard as she couldn't get hold of Sian. Sophie then asked her dad to go to Southport to find Sian, but Kevin refused as Sophie was grounded, but she still went behind her dad's back. While at Southport, Sophie tried to reason with Sian, but failed and left. She then decided to go on another date with Ryan's friend Lee after being persuaded by Amber Kalirai.

In 2011, Sian and Sophie's relationship was finally approved of by everyone in their family. Sian kept her distance from Sophie for various reasons, so Sophie started drinking alcohol and refusing help from friend Sunita Alahan. Turning up drunk at church, Sophie told the priest that God hated her so much that she was so hurt. Not listening to the priest, Sophie climbed up on the church roof to shout at God. When the priest followed her and persuaded her to come down, Sophie fell off and landed on a car. At the hospital, Sophie and the Websters were told that she would live and Sian re-united with her. When Sian later wenton holiday, Amber Kalirai took Sophie on a night out, but when Sophie received unwanted attention by another man, Amber threw herself at Sophie but she managed to back off. Sophie quit her job at the Corner Shop and pitied Amber too. At the end of 2011, Sophie and Sian decided to get married. However at the altar, Sophie got cold feet and Sian fled the church. After a long talk, Sian agreed to give Sophie another chance. Unfortunately, when Amber confroned Sophie about their kiss months ago and whether she liked her or not, Sian overheard everything and packed her bags. Telling a devastated Sophie she hated her, Sian left Weatherfield with her mother.

In early 2012, Rosie announced to her family that she'd be leaving Weatherfield to take part in a reality TV series in London, leaving Sophie a little sad although they said goodbye on good terms. By this point, Sophie had got over Sian. In the summer of 2012, Sophie was shocked when Ryan Connor came back to the area again. He convinced Sophie to do drugs, and they got high together. Sophie and Ryan left a cigarette unattended that burned some curtains down, but thankfully nothing else. Later that year, Sophie got hit by a car whilst trying to save a high Ryan from being hit when he played chicken on the road. To her parents' relief she only suffered minor injuries. Physiotherapist Jenna Kamara helped Sophie's pain go away, but Sophie fell in love with her soon afterwards. Things went wrong on Christmas Day when a drunken Kevin made a move on Jenna, so she threatened to put Sophie in someone else's care. Sophie began to hate Kevin so much she didn't want to see him ever again. Eventually, after a talk with Sally, Jenna let it go and continued to treat Sophie, and the fallout with Kevin fizzled out.

In early 2013, Sophie picked up the courage to finally spend time with Jenna and even kiss her, and she responded. The pair immediately began dating, much to the disapproval of Jenna's mother Mandy and Kevin. Later that year, Sophie was a little devastated when her close friend Sunita Alahan died from an inferno caused by Karl Munro, so to help her husband Dev out, Sophie minded the shop for longer with Jenna and helped out with their children Asha and Aadi. Sophie grew wary of Karl. In the summer, Sophie caused tension between her and Jenna as Paul Kershaw made a remark which Jenna classed as racist. Sophie reported Paul to Weatherfield Community Fire Station, which almost cost Paul his job, and he lashed out at Lloyd Mullaney. Jenna avoided Sophie, but later they made up after peace was restored. Sophie soon began growing tired of her mother dating Tim Metcalfe, as he kept making her look like a fool. Weeks later, Jenna decided to split from Sophie because of their differences in character. Upset, Sophie removed a hurt Jenna from the house. At a homeless shelter on Christmas day, Sophie and Sally volunteered to help. However, one girl, Maddie Heath, took a strong disliking to Sally and pushed her face into a trifle before stealing her handbag. Sophie found this amusing, but when she spoke to Maddie she disliked her confrontational attitude. When Sophie returned the next day, things had not improved between them. Sophie soon learned that Maddie had Sally's watch as it was in her handbag, and Maddie demanded £50 for it. Sophie agreed to at first, but after some persuasion from her friends she just took the watch anyway. Maddie was angered at Sophie's actions so she followed her back to her house and broke in while Sally's partner Tim Metcalfe was asleep. However, Tim woke up and grabbed Maddie, so she punched him in the face and left empty-handed. Tim lied to Sophie by saying it was a "burly man", but she immediately knew it was Maddie who broke in and was angry. Later, Maddie kissed a stunned Sophie after an argument with her. Wanting to know why, Sophie confronted Maddie, only to have got a "because I felt like it" response. At the Red Rec, Sophie met up with Maddie but when Sally showed up, Maddie ran off but Sophie and Sally followed her back to a block of flats. Fran, Maddie's mother, answered the door and thought they were social services and turned cold against them, but Maddie quickly re-assured Fran they were just friends. Maddie's little brother Ben soon showed up, and Sophie wanted to know what was up. Maddie revealed Ben was in care and Fran mental problems, so Sophie took pity on her and invited her round her dinner. Things were going fine, but when Sally started being nosey, an upset Maddie did a runner, leaving Sophie upset too.