Sophie Webster

Sophie Webster (née Lauren Webster) is a fictional character in the British soap opera Coronation Street. She is played by Brooke Vincent, and was previously played by Ashleigh Middleton and Emma Woodward and made her first onscreen appearence on 4 November 1994.

Background
The character of Sophie was created for a sister for Rosie, the character was orginally named Lauren and was born in 1994 to parents Kevin Webster and Sally Webster. However Rosie kept calling the baby "Sophie" after her doll. Kevin and Sally (who had also warmed to the name Sophie far more than Lauren) were persuaded to legally change her name. Although for the first five years of her life, Sophie’s parents were very much in love, her dad 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 psychotic Greg Kelly who kidnapped Sophie. Later Kevin and Sally remarried and her family got back together. However, soon thereafter Sophie overheard her parents arguing about Sally's affair with her boss, Ian Davenport, whose daughter Gemma was friends with Rosie. She feared they would get a divorce but this never happened.

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. The show's bosses ran audtions upon the anouncement which resulted in her being replaced with Brooke Vincent a patron of the Manchester Kids charity. In an interview Brooke revealed that her role in Coronation Street is just part of her life, stating she doesn't see it as a job because she sees it as 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
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. Fellow actor Craig Gazey describes the character as very gobby and a perfect match for his character Graeme Proctor.

Relationships
Sophie who is only in her middle teens at the moment hasn't had a serious relationship or a real boyfriend. Though Coronation Street bosses made a big deal of Brooke's acting abilities and awarded her with casting a potential love interest played by Lucien Laviscount. Her main friends in the past have been Chesney, and spends most time onscreen with her parents and sister Rosie who she has a rocky relationship with.

Storylines
Sophie's real storylines started when there were problems when Sophie was due to start high school. Sophie had gone in on her first day but later on was sent home after finding out that she wasn't on any of the schools registers. When Sally found out she was furious. It turned out that Sally failed to fill in the application forms properly, as she was unsure if Sophie would attend Oakhill like Rosie. For weeks Sophie had to go without school as the headteacher of the school would not let her in. Sally looked up other schools in the area but the only one in which she had any chance of joining had a bad reputation. The head of Weatherfield High had given Sophie's place to his daughter, Jessica. When Sally was dropping Rosie off at Oakhill, she saw the Head of Weatherfield High taking his daughter for her first day there. Sally spoke to him and threatened to tell the local newspaper, which got Sophie a place at Weatherfield High.

Sophie developed a friendship with Nicolette Seddon, not realising that they were related. When Sally found out she was furious as Nicolette was so rude. She and Sophie started smoking and one night when Rosie and Craig were looking after Sophie for Sally, Sophie sneaked out after being told not to leave the house. When Sally returned to find Sophie gone she was frantic. Sophie was later found and broke off her friendship with Nicolette.

In the summer of 2006, Sophie and Chesney started hanging out with Chesney's friend Cameron McIntyre. The trio started taking DVDs from Chesney's step dad Les. The films had an 18 certificate so Sally was annoyed when she found them watching one in her living room. Cameron then stole cigarettes and Sophie took one. Sally later found them in the alley behind the houses and smelt tobacco. The finger of blame pointed at Chesney as Cameron and Sophie had passed the cigarettes to Chesney. Later on Sophie stole money from Sally who thought it was Chesney as it was what his family was known for. Sophie felt guilty and told her shocked parents everything. Later that year Sophie and Chesney found an old diary in the attic of number five. 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 had an abortion, in which Ivy recorded in her diary. David confronted his mum about it on Christmas Day. On Valentines 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.

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 a fight. Tension relaxed when Kevin was released from prison.

In September 2008, Rosie mysteriously disappeared, three weeks later Kevin received a postcard saying 'Sophie's next.' Sophie later reveals it was her 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 still lingers, as Rosie is her mum's daughter and Sophie is very much her dad's.