Corrie fans will know how distressing it has been to watch the Bethany Platt grooming storyline unfold over the last few months.
We have seen bad boy Nathan put the poor lass through so much heartache and pain as he cast his wicked spell over her and turned her into a sex slave.
Just this week viewers were left squirming on their sofas when Nathan threw a party, drugged Bethany and served her up to three men who paid him to sleep with her.
However, fans of the show were over the moon when Nathan was finally arrested by the police on Friday night for child sex exploitation.
But while many have been upset by the controversial storyline, a positive outcome has emerged from it too.
According to actress Lucy Fallon, it has helped victims of abuse feel like their story is being told.
Even though she has been inundated with messages from viewers who have been through their own terrible experiences, she came face to face with someone last week, while she was laying flowers at the Manchester bombing memorial, who moved her deeply.
She told the Mirror: “I went to St Ann’s Square to put some flowers down at the memorial and somebody tapped me on the shoulder. She said, ‘Can I whisper something to you?’. She was about 60.
“I thought she was going to say, ‘I really like Corrie’. But she said, ‘I was sexually abused by my dad when I was younger’. She got upset, then told me she really appreciated what I had done.
“It makes me really proud when people say things like that to me.”
Lucy says she is happy and proud that the storyline has really helped girls come forward to open up about bad times they had come through.
“Quite a few girls have contacted me on Instagram to say this happened to them,” she said.
“You can’t imagine that kind of thing happening until you speak to somebody who it did happen to and they tell you they were raped when they were six.
“If people who are watching are being sexually abused now, we want them to be able to come forward.”
Lucy also explained that even though we see Nathan being arrested, her character will continue to have feelings for her dark master, which, frighteningly, happens in real life.
“One charity told us somebody they are helping is still writing letters to the person who abused them, in prison,” Lucy explained.
“They don’t believe they have been groomed, they are just completely brainwashed. It can take years for people to realise what has happened to them.”
Meanwhile in real life, Lucy, who is up for a best actress gong at this weekend’s Soap Awards, is a lot happier with her salesman boyfriend Tom Leech, who she has been dating for a year.
“My boyfriend doesn’t watch it because it is me in that situation,” Lucy reveals.
“I think it is harder to watch it than it is for me to film it.
“That sounds weird, but I tell myself, ‘This isn’t real’, and they let me go home straight afterwards.
“Then if my boyfriend knows I’ve had a hard time, he makes sure he has my tea ready.”
What a great guy.
Corrie continues next week….