Coronation Street star James Craven has said that his character Aaron genuinely believes that he did not rape Amy (Elle Mulvaney).
Earlier this year, Aaron and Amy got drunk together in their flat and kissed before moving to the bedroom, where Amy passed out and an inebriated Aaron had sex with her.
Amy has since accused Aaron of rape but he has vehemently denied the allegation, insisting that they were both drunk and their encounter was consensual.
"It was always clear to me that what he's done is wrong," said Craven, who has just marked a year on the cobbles playing Aaron. "But I had to try and think about everything from his point of view, and he just doesn't think he's done anything wrong.
"The reason that he reacts and defends himself in the way that he does is because he truly believes he's innocent. It's quite a difficult thing when he's outwardly defending himself and you know that he shouldn't be defending himself. As an actor you have to try and find a way to rationalise why he does what he does because he's not an evil character. "
Speaking about the audience reaction to the storyline, he continued: "Some people have come at it from a similar point of view to Aaron, and obviously while it's wrong, they've understood that he didn't know what he was doing, it was potentially a lack of education and he's got himself in this awful situation and it's had terrible, terrible consequences. It is a story about his journey to realising that and accepting that.
"Whereas other people have viewed it as rather than him trying to defend himself that he's gaslighting Amy into believing that he's done nothing wrong. That was never the way that I thought about it but it's really interesting to see how other people have viewed it."
Coronation Street continues Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
Neil Wilkes
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