Actor Ryan Prescott spoke with real-life survivors before filming last night’s shocking acid attack scenes in Coronation Street.
Soap fans saw his character Ryan Connor splashed in the face with the corrosive substance.
Stalker Justin Rutherford (Andrew Still) returned to Weatherfield to attack Daisy Midgeley (Charlotte Jordan) on her wedding day.
But his plan went wrong and the acid hit Justin – who was set to be the Rovers Return barmaid’s driver – instead.
Ryan told how he met Andreas Christopheros from Truro, Cornwall, who was left scarred for life after a man hurled acid in his face, also in a case of mistaken identity.
Ryan described Andreas as “an amazing guy with a warrior spirit” – but still said he still struggled to understand just how devastating such an attack would be.
He said: “He told me his story. I was in conversation with him, and psychotherapists that had been with him along a very long road of recovery.
“And speaking with people from the Katie Piper Foundation and all the reading in the world can’t really make you comprehend the reality of violence of this extreme nature.”
Ryan, 34, added: “It’s just one of those things that you can’t comprehend unless you’ve gone through it.
“You just try your best to engage with all the issues around it.”
In “high energy” scenes, Daisy calls 999 and is told to get cold water onto his face so she rushes him into
the shower.
He said: “I completely underestimated the temperature of the water. It was so cold, there was no acting – that was just me trying to breathe throughout the six hours we were shooting it for.
“We couldn’t have any steam so it had to be as cold as it could be.”
On how his character reacts when he gets into hospital, he added: “He’s starting to see that his life is never going to be the same again.”
For future scenes, Ryan will use special prosthetics created by Davy Jones, who has worked on Hollywood films like Pirates of the Caribbean.
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