Coronation Street is set to be rocked with a horrifying rape storyline in upcoming scenes as Amy Barlow is preyed upon by Aaron Sandford while drunk.
The ITV soap will air the harrowing storyline next month, in which Aaron (James Craven) has non-consensual sex with Amy ( Elle Mulvaney ) in their flat, following a row with his girlfriend Summer Spellman (Harriet Bibby).
Corrie soap bosses have championed the storyline as an opportunity to open up conversations between families and friends about the issues surrounding sexual activity among young people, including consent, awareness, respect and education.
The ITV soap researchers have worked alongside The Schools Consent Project, a charity which sends legally trained volunteers into schools to deliver consent workshops, to craft the scenes, which will air on Friday, March 3.
The disturbing episode will see a drunk Amy and Aaron kiss at their shared flat, before moving to the bedroom, where Amy starts to undress before admitting she feels sick and rolling away from him.
Yet, Aaron then continues to kiss Amy, who is unaware of what happens next as he makes the decision for her that they will have sex.
It is only the following day that a horrified Amy discovers how far things went and is left reckoning with the realisation she was not in a state to give sexual consent, and was raped.
Aaron maintains he has done nothing wrong, as he tried to convince Amy they both wanted it to happen.
When family, friends and then the police become involved in the shocking incident, ITV viewers will see the different reactions and understandings of non-consensual sexual activity as both teens battle with what happened that night.
Actress Elle Mulvaney has described her initial angst at tackling such a sensitive and significant storyline, stressing she wanted to clearly portray that Amy had consented to sex.
“There are so many different viewpoints from the characters,” she said. “For us it was important that when we portray that night it’s clear that while Amy doesn’t say the words she definitely doesn’t consent.
“That meant that we had to highlight her usual behaviour in the run up to the episode so that she didn’t act uncharacteristically.
“The characters were getting closer before the event but even though they were friends that doesn’t mean it’s ok for him to do what he wants, this shouldn’t be a grey area.”
She continued: “It won’t end here either, it will be interesting to see the character develop in a different way because this will stay with Amy for a long time.
“It’s important to note the way it will affect her mental health and wellbeing going forward which is something else we want to highlight with this story.”
Coronation Street producer Iain MacLeod said that while working on the storyline he was startled by the number of people who said they had experienced a similar night to that of Amy’s on the soap.
He said: “This story will be hugely relatable and we hope it will prompt important discussions among our audience about issues around consent.
“The narrative will also be an engrossing, long-running examination of how Amy and Aaron deal with what happened that night and will give actors Elle Mulvaney and James Craven the chance to showcase their considerable skills.”
*If you've been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999
