Coronation Street fans are set to see Daisy Midgeley reach breaking point as her stalker hell intensifies. In scenes to air in the ITV soap next week, viewers will see Justin, who has been sending Daisy flowers and bombarding her with messages on social media, get hold of her number and starts sending her more messages.
Encountering Justin bearing a bunch of flowers on Victoria Street, Daisy storms over, hurls the bouquet onto the pavement and stamps on it. But as Justin places a calming hand on her arm, Daisy sees red and punches him, witnessed by a shocked George.
Justin reveals his mum has just died and he was visiting George to sort the arrangements leaving Daisy bursting into tears on Daniel’s shoulder. PC Jess then invites Daisy to the station because Justin has accused her of assault.
Corrie has been working with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, which was founded in 1986 and is the largest specialist personal safety and stalking organisation of its kind worldwide, on the storyline in which Justin is defined as An Intimacy Seeking Stalke, one which arises out of a context of loneliness and whose motivation is to establish an emotional connection, intimate and loving relationship with the victim.
"Daisy is a feisty, confident character and even though she's got Daniel, Christina and sometimes Jenny going, 'Come off your phone, come off your social media. Maybe you can make him go away like that,' she's been fighting it because she knows that's not fair. That's not how it should go," Charlotte said when talking about the upcoming scenes.
"She's trying to keep hold of her identity and the things that she wants but this is where she finally relents and says she will step back a bit and Daniel takes over her social media for her so that she doesn't have to see his [Justin's] messages. But Daniel often turns his nose up at social media and does something which isn't quite right and it sets her off because she's been working so hard to give them this wonderful wedding.
"But Daniel mucks up her social media and that sends her over the edge. Her nerves are shredded already because of Justin and Daniel upsets her social media which also just sends her into this chaotic spin. She feels no one is understanding her, the police aren't helping so her levels are already right up here."
Talking about Daisy seeing red and hitting Justin, Charlotte said: "She's never been a violent person. She's never been in that sort of altercation. Daisy is cutting with her words, she's not cutting physically and it's not her just lashing out, it's self defence." She added: "Me and Andrew [Still, who plays Justin] were very particular on this. This is the first time Justin has touched Daisy and that's crossing yet another line for her."
Asked what the scenes were like to film, Charlotte gave a light-hearted response. "I know it's a very scary and dark and current topic storyline wise but I really enjoyed learning how to punch someone," the actress laughed. "It's the first time I've been taught a physical stunt like that and we had a stunt coordinator, Kate, who is so good and she knows that I'm quite a clumsy person and not coordinated so she taught me in a way that's great for me. I really enjoyed it and I hope it looks legit. I gave it a good crack and I enjoyed it and I hope for more stunts in the future."
Speaking about why she thinks that Daisy is the right character for this storyline as she discussed how she'll change in the process of her ordeal, Charlotte told the Manchester Evening News and other press: "I think it was really important to do this storyline and very clever to do it with a character like Daisy because she's a divisive character.
"You either love her or your hate her. There's not really an in between and all the things that make her Daisy - she is extra, she is flamboyant, she is camp, she is big - you'll just start to see her crumble and get smaller and smaller and I don't think, really, she'll ever feel the same again."
Asked how she felt when she was told about the storyline, Charlotte added: "I thought it was brilliant. Lucky me that they have given me my own storyline because there are a lot of people here and not everybody gets one. So that was wonderful. And I thought it was a really important one to tell. It's a really current topic at the minute so anything that can be shown to change people's views on victim blaming and things like that, anything that can shine a light on it, sign me up."
READ NEXT:
- ITV Love Island fans make observation as Casey works out who Claudia's famous dad is
- Charlotte Crosby breaks down in tears as she's seen telling friend of mum's cancer diagnosis after 'no signs'
- New mum Molly-Mae Hague takes aim at Jake Paul ahead of Tommy Fury fight after 'leaking' baby news
- Kerry Katona sends 'massive apology' to Molly-Mae Hague after new mum responds to 'nasty' comments about daughter's name
