Coronation Street's Lucy Fallon: "My dad can't watch my grooming scenes, they're too distressing"
Get soaps updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Coronation Street ’s Lucy Fallon has revealed she can hardly bear to watch the “horrific” grooming scenes featuring her character Bethany Platt.
And her boyfriend and dad have refused to sit through them, finding the content simply too distressing to view.
In the soap the 16-year-old is at the centre of a harrowing storyline in which her much older “boyfriend” Nathan Curtis will soon start pimping her out to his mates for money, starting with his sick friend Neil.
Actress Lucy, who is dating salesman Tom Leech, said: “My mum watches it but I don’t think my dad can watch it at the moment. And my boyfriend doesn’t watch because he finds it too uncomfortable. I find it uncomfortable to watch because it’s me in it.
(Photo: ITV)
“She does end up sleeping with Neil and it upset me because she’s saying no and ‘I’m not that kind of girl’ and he just lays her on the bed. I had to cry and it was like, ‘Oh this is horrible’. I could really put myself in that mindset, I think you kind of have to otherwise you’re not doing it properly.”
Actor who plays Coronation Street paedophile Nathan Curtis praises survivors of Rotherham abuse horror
The soap star, 21, said it was hard to shake off her character after hours of filming the dark plot. “It’s horrific,” she sighed. “I don’t think there’s any way you can get out of it but I have quite a long drive home, so I zone out and listen to my music and by the time I get home I feel normal again.
“Even though it’s uncomfortable to watch, I think it’s so important. I’m determined to do it justice.”
To prepare for the role, Lucy was put in touch with a woman who had experienced this type of sexual exploitation for real, through the NSPCC .
(Photo: Rex Features)
Now called Lucie, the girl was just 10 when she was subjected to a similar experience which lasted for years.
“Lucie talked through what had happened to her, she was really young, just ten but it progressed until she was 16,” Fallon explained.
“That was horrific, really horrific. I was really crying during our talk with her.
“It helped me understand how people get into those situations, because obviously I’ve never been through anything like that and neither has anyone I know. After speaking to her I felt a lot more confident with the storyline.”
She feels the experience is certain to affect her future parenting techniques. “If I have a child, boy or girl, it’s changed the way I feel about them being on social media from such a young age, I don’t think it should be allowed. I think there should be an age limit, I think 16.”
(Photo: ITV)
Coronation Street viewers slam Steve McDonald's reaction after he catches Michelle Connor and Robert Preston kissing
When the storyline first aired it attracted complaints from some viewers who didn’t find it suitable for pre-watershed viewing.
Lucy defended the plot, arguing: “Nothing that we have filmed has been graphic, there’s no nudity or anything that shouldn’t be on at that time. I understand that it’s pre watershed and it’s a controversial storyline, but we need to do it at this time to target the people we want to target.
“I think this storyline is so important - it doesn’t bother me that people say it shouldn’t be on at this time of night. I think that gets outweighed by the people who say this is important and people who have come forward and said they were abused and it’s helping them to talk about it.”
(Photo: ITV)
Lucy is hoping that Nathan is eventually jailed for his grooming and abuse of Bethany. “I’d like to see him in prison because it’s quite rare, Lucie’s case didn’t even go to court so the person who did it to her is still living in her area.
"I think it’s important that we show people this is happening to that he does go to prison otherwise they might be like, ‘There’s no point me telling anyone this is happening to me because nothing will come of it’.”