Coronation Street star Elle Mulvaney has shared how she has been supported over her latest hard-hitting storyline. The actress, who is famed for playing Amy Barlow in the ITV soap, has also spoken about the 'challenging' scenes viewers will see on Friday night (March 3) and in the coming days and weeks as Amy is raped by friend Aaron Sandford.
In Friday's episode (March 3), viewers will see Amy and Aaron kiss whilst at the flat they share after Aaron's row with his girlfriend Summer, played by Harriet Bibby, after she discovered him enjoying late-night conversations with his ex. Amy quickly pulls away but is left racked with guilt.
However, Aaron is keen to celebrate his promotion to mechanic at Kevin Webster's garage and so reminds Summer and his pals that there is a cocktail night taking place at the Bistro. Struggling to watch Summer with Aaron at the Bistro, Amy heads home and as Aaron and Summer snipe at each other, ruining everyone's evening, he announces he's going too.
Back at the flat, Amy and Aaron play drinking games, polishing off every drop of alcohol in the flat. Corrie viewers will then see them move into the bedroom where Amy starts to undress before admitting she feels sick and rolling away from him. Aaron continues to kiss Amy who is unaware of what happens next as he makes the decision for her that they will have sex. It won’t be until the next day that a horrified Amy discovers how far things went the night before.
And as Amy struggles with her emotions, coming to the realisation that she wasn’t able to consent to sex and was raped, Aaron tries to convince her that they both wanted it to happen and he did nothing wrong. Then, with family and friends and then the police becoming involved, we see the different reactions and understandings of non-consensual sexual activity as both teens battle with what happened that night.
Sharing how she felt when she heard about her latest storyline, Elle told the Manchester Evening News and other press: "I felt like it was definitely going to be a challenge because when you get pitched something like this you read it and think, 'Wow, this is intense.'
"But then at the same time, that for me is why we do this job. This just shows that soaps, even after 60 years, are still just as relevant. This storyline is so relevant and so topical and as awful as it sounds, I know people who go through stuff like this.
"This is not uncommon and I feel like it's really interesting to delve into these grey areas and to really talk about consent because yes, Amy didn't say no but she didn't say yes and it's about looking at these indicators. All of these things are what makes the topic of consent so interesting and because it's not black and white, we can open up all these conversations which is really important."
She went on: "So when they told me about the storyline, and I thought about it about the impact it could have, I felt really honoured and appreciated because being a young girl and being a young cast member in the soap, to be given such a huge responsibility is just incredible."
On filming the scenes, and whether she found them difficult, Elle said: "It has been challenging at times but I feel like we've been very well supported. Myself and James have both had numerous people come up to us during the storyline to check in with us and ask how we are and even just working with James has been brilliant.
"Every step of the way he's [asked], 'are you comfortable with this' and 'what do you think about this'. Having that person to hold your hand is really nice, especially with something like this. It's such a sensitive topic and it can get challenging. When you're doing crying scenes all day and talking about rape all day it does take a toll but making sure you've got the support and making sure you've got things in place for if you've had a special day, having that support and safety net just makes them days a bit easier."
She added: "Everybody says it but I'm going to say it, it's cliche [but] Corrie is a big family so I feel like even if I do come off set... I actually came off set [one day] and thought, 'Oh, I do feel quite stressed now' and I ended up sat talking to Sue Devaney [Debbie Webster] for an hour and she just made me feel so much better.
"And that's what it's all about. Sometimes you do have those challenging moments but having those people around you to say, 'Oh it's fine, I've felt like that before' and having that is really comforting."
Adding what she hopes people will take away from the harrowing storyline, the 20-year-old soap star said: "I hope it allows this to be less of a grey area. If someone can come away and have a think the next time that they are going to do something - Have they given me verbal or non-verbal that they'd like to have sex or have they enthusiastically shown me that they want to be involved in this or have they not?
"If that can make one person think before they just have sex with somebody, then I feel like something has been learnt from the story. And even just opening up conversations..."
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