Coronation Street’s Bethany Platt grooming storyline has had viewers gripped and outraged. There’s no doubt it’s been a tough watch, but it seems it was also a difficult decision for actress Lucy Fallon to take on the plot in the first place.
In an interview with The Sun’s Fabulous magazine this weekend, Lucy has confessed how she wasn’t sold on the storyline when it was first proposed to her by her boss at Corrie.
“Kate Oates texted me last September and said she wanted me to come in for a chat,” Lucy revealed.
“I was phoning my mum like: ‘What if she tells me she’s killing me off?’
“I was quite scared because I’ve only been on the show for two years, and even though I’ve had a lot of big storylines, this is the biggest and most controversial.”
But despite her reservations, Lucy admits her mind was eventually changed when she realised the level of research that would go into it and what an important topic it was to tackle.
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“Once Kate spoke to me and we’d done quite a bit of research, I realised how important it was. Then I was excited – if that makes sense – to do the story justice for real people who have been affected by it.”
Viewers have watched in horror as Nathan conned Bethany into thinking he was in love with her and wanted to marry her.
All the time he was actually grooming her to be part of his sex ring and planned to sell her off to his friends.
After Bethany was raped by evil policeman Neil, she was then sent into a room with three men who forced themselves on her.
That’s when the police burst in and arrested Nathan, but Bethany still couldn’t see what he had done was wrong and plotted to run away with him.
It was when they were on the way to the airport to head to Belgium that Bethany realised Nathan was planning to send her abroad alone and sell her to a random guy out there. She knew she had to get away and ended up asking a stranger for help.
Although Bethany gave a statement to the police, the evidence wasn’t enough to charge him and it was revealed on Friday Nathan has been released.
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As Bethany faces even more of a battle to get justice, it doesn’t look like things are going to let up for Lucy any time soon. So it’s good she’s got a technique for winding down on her way home from the studios.
“I like listening to Alanis Morrisette – something you can scream to loudly! Then when I get home, my boyfriend Tom might have run me a bath or made my tea, which is nice.”
We’re glad Lucy’s got good support around her. Now let’s hope Bethany’s family can do the same for her.