CORONATION Street’s Tina O’Brien was left feeling “abandoned” by Adolescence’s Owen Cooper after setting the teenage star on the path to his Golden Globes win.
Tina is known to many fans for her long-running role as Sarah Platt in the much loved ITV soap.
Tina, set up the drama school, Drama Mob, 13 years ago, with her friend Esther Morgan and Owen Cooper was a former student of theirs.
The school aimed to champion Northern talent, holding weekend and after-school classes in a former Didsbury parsonage.
Owen became the youngest ever winner of the Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role on Television Award for Adolescence at the Golden Globes.
However when Owen collected his award at the Los Angeles’ Beverly Hilton hotel, he said: “What an incredible journey me and my family have been through, we are forever grateful.
“What started off as something I thought I might be okay at, I took a risk and went to drama classes.
“I was the only boy there, it was embarrassing. But I got through it and I’m still very much an apprentice, still learning every day from the people in front of me who inspired me.
“I wouldn’t be here without you guys. It’s mad, what is going on?”
But, Tina who was Owen’s former teacher and founder the drama school he attended – did not get a mention.
Tina believed in Owen and encouraged him to take part in theatre productions before recruiting him for their talent agency and getting him listed on industry casting platform Spotlight – a directory of talent casting directors browse reports the Mail.
They were then approached by casting director Shaheen Baig about a project called Adolescence.
The team were looking for a boy to play its main character, 13-year-old Jamie Miller, and Tina and Esther submitted Owen’s profile.
A source familiar with Tina told The Mail on Sunday: “Tina was absolutely key in Owen’s success, but she was forgotten last week.
“It was pretty rotten to have left her out like that.”
They added: “While Tina is humble and so proud of her young starlets, she did start him on his road to stardom and she is just so thrilled for him.
“But someone could have given her a bit of a big-up after the Globes.”
The teaching staff at Drama Mob are frustrated at the lack of recognition in Owen’s success.
Esther said at the time: “When the show came out last year, some reviews suggested he had no training before his debut, which ‘frustrated us a bit’,”
She added: “We invest a lot of time in our young people, including Owen. We really got to know him and his parents and supported them through the process.
“The fact that the show was done in one shot and Owen was able to do this is due to his training and us working with him. It shows the benefit of good-quality training.”
Following his Golden Globes success, Esther was a guest on ITV‘s Lorraine and said: “I knew he was good enough back then.
“He was one of the only boys but since he’s done Adolescence, we’ve had a number of Northern boys come and join our school. They’ve seen what Owen’s done.
“We’ve got a 50 per cent male teaching team, which is quite unusual, so I think when they walk through the door they see the teachers and they see the other boys.
“It’s good because it can be quite embarrassing as a 12-year-old.”
Tina has not spoken about Owen’s success but others have also done really well.
Carter Murphy, 11, has secured roles in the theatre show Wicked and played a young Robbie Williams in his fantasy biopic Better Man.
Tina also trained Freddie Henderson, who played Elton John in the 2018 John Lewis Christmas advert.
Other youngsters have gained roles in Coronation Street and Hollyoaks.
