Coronation Street star Elle Mulvaney, who plays Amy Barlow, is currently training for a half marathon to raise money for Wigan MS Therapy Centre.

Coronation Street star Elle Mulvaney, who plays Amy Barlow in the long-running ITV soap, has opened up on the reasons her character has found herself getting sucked into The Institute by Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson).

In recent weeks, viewers have seen Leanne introduce Amy to Institute leader Rowan Cunliffe (Emrhys Cooper) and attempt to persuade her to fully immerse herself in the lifestyle, including handing over money to them.

Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk in a break from training for a charity run for Wigan MS Therapy Centre, the star explained that it is her relationship with Leanne which is really drawing her into the cult-like Institute.

She said: “I think it’s really interesting the relationship between Amy and Leanne because there’s a lot of links, which people forget about. Oliver is Amy’s half-brother, who’s Leanne’s son who passed away. But also Leanne is Simon’s mum, and Simon is Amy’s cousin.

“And then also Leanne, obviously dated her dad [Steve McDonald] for a bit, and her and Tracy [Barlow, Amy’s mum] have obviously a lot of history as well. So I think it’s really interesting that whole dynamic.

“I was quite excited when I heard about the storyline because I love watching things like cult documentaries and thrillers and things about serial killers and psychopaths, that kind of thing. I find it interesting getting into the psychology of people and understanding why people do the things that they do.

“So I think when it was originally pitched to me, I thought, wow, this sounds really exciting. And then I obviously getting into it, and it’s getting a little bit weird, I’m curious to see how the public’s going to react,” she admitted.

Elle believes another huge factor in the character’s recent decisions has been the lack of parental guidance in Amy’s life. With her mother Tracy now living in Spain with Tommy Orpington (Matt Milburn) and father Steve moping around forlornly, the teen has very much been left to make her own life choices.

“There is definitely a sense that she’s having to fend for herself a little bit more because she’s not really got the attention of either of her parents. They’re both doing their own things. They both have their own lives,” Elle mused.

Away from Coronation Street Elle Mulvaney is training for a half marathon for charity (Image: Getty)

“And also, Amy’s vulnerable because she’s still not entirely over her being raped and other things in her life. All of her friends seem to be busy or they’re working or have their own problems in life. So Amy feels very much like she’s fending for herself, like she’s being a proper adult for the first time.

“So I think that has contributed to her leaning back more into Leanne and into the Institute. But it’s also because Amy’s always admired Leanne. Amy sees Leanne as a very successful businesswoman who’s headstrong, she’s very like Amy in lots of ways and I think Amy admires that about her,” she said.

Elle, who has played the role of Amy since 2010, is currently in the middle of training for a half marathon with her sister Georgia to raise money for the Wigan MS Therapy Centre which is a cause close to her heart. She is a patron of the charity and speaks passionately about their work.

“There aren’t any centres up north for MS. There’s only ones down south, which are funded by the government. So this one was set up for people who are living with MS, and they have facilities like a fully accessible gym.

“They have comfy couches so people can come and they can just talk. They also provide things like physiotherapists for people, and they have people who come in and they can do haircuts. Sometimes it can be really difficult for people with MS to have normal things like haircuts because, just as an example, it might really hurt their neck to keep it lent back for a certain amount of time.

“So they have people come in and they’ll do it for either discounted or for free, and they fund it all themselves because they don’t have any funding whatsoever from the government. So I agreed to be a patron for them, and since then, I ran the Manchester 10k and I raised over £1000 for them on that run, which I was really pleased about.

“And then in the past couple of weeks, they had their annual summer ball, and me and my family raised, I think, three and a half grand for them. So yeah, I mean, it’s obviously not the biggest amount of money in the world, but to a charity like them, who don’t have any funding from anybody else it means a lot, even just doing something small.”