‘Coronation Street’ actress Lucy Fallon has opened up about her ongoing storyline, which has so far seen her teenage character Bethany Platt groomed by boyfriend Nathan Curtis, who is 20 years her senior.
Unbeknownst to Bethany, he is intending to “pimp her out” to his friends, and with the storyline stepping up, Lucy has now admitted that she hasn’t watched the scenes, because they make her “uncomfortable”.
The actress made the admission during Wednesday’s (22 February) episode of ‘Lorraine’, on which she appeared alongside co-star Chris Harper, who plays Nathan.
“I haven’t watched it yet as it does make me feel quite uncomfortable, as it does for quite a lot of the viewers,” she said. “But it’s so important - so important - that we do it, especially at this time, because we are targeting the people watching ‘Coronation Street’ who are quite young.
“All the fans are quite young and they are the people we want to target.
“We recently did a scene where Nathan takes Bethany to his flat where there are a lot of men. That was so uncomfortable, it was horrible.”
Chris added: “Bethany’s bright and comes from a good family but she’s very open to the confidence-building and the manipulation that Nathan pours on her to build her self-esteem.
“What she doesn’t realise - and what I think the viewers can realise - is that she doesn’t read the signals. He is not in for what she is in for.
“She is gradually falling in love and he will stick around while he can get something out of it. That’s where it’s going to get pretty scary.”
The duo, and the soap’s writing team, have worked with the NSPCC on the storyline, to ensure everything is sensitively and appropriately dealt with.
Next week’s episodes will see Bethany’s mum Sarah begin to become suspicious of her daughter’s new relationship, and secretly text Nathan inviting him round for dinner, in a bid to find out more about him.
This is Lucy’s second big storyline of the last 12 months, as over Christmas viewers saw her diet pill issues take centre stage in the soap.
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