Coronation Street star Sally Carman has revealed that her character Abi will go on the warpath when she discovers that sex tapes - apparently of her - are doing the rounds on the internet.
In episodes airing this week, Abi is horrified when Tyrone (Alan Halsall) shows her an explicit video of her that he has been sent - and she immediately thinks her former drug dealer Dean (Anthony Crank) was responsible for filming it during the depths of her struggles.
"It's something that doesn't sink in instantly, it's like, 'what is this?' She can't quite get her head around it," explained Carman. "There's so much to compute because she has no memory of this video but she also knows that it's possible because she's had blackouts and there's been opportunities for someone to take advantage of that. Her head does go to Dean because he seems the obvious perpetrator."
She added: "It goes back to that time when she was out of control and it's scary. It's that whole Jekyll and Hyde part of her personality where she's dealing with a completely different person.
"She's horrified and disgusted but it's also very hard to compute that it's actually her. That's always been the dilemma for her - 'this is not who I really am'.
"It's a really tough one for anyone who is forced to go through this, but when you have no memory of it whatsoever, how do you even start to deal with that? Then to see yourself in that most vulnerable position must be horrific."
Convinced that Dean is responsible, Abi tracks him down with the intent of attacking him with a wrench. "She wants to kill him! Her emotions are all over the place," Carman continued.
"She's doing so well and it's that thing of you can forget who used to be and become a different person but clearly there's a lot of hurt and damage there. The old protective, fight for your life mode comes out and she just cannot see reason. She's in there and she's ready to kill him."
Soon afterwards Abi discovers more videos of her online but the more she looks at them, she realises that it's not actually her - and she is the victim of a deepfake prank.
Explaining Abi's reaction, Carman said: "I think there's a sense of relief, but I think mostly she's confused and reeling, thinking 'who could be doing this and why are they doing this?'
"These aren't just things you can do in 10 minutes, it takes time and money to do such a detailed convincing deep fake.
"It suddenly feels much deeper than when she thought it was Dean - he's a scumbag and it felt horrendous - but this is someone else and they're out to get [her] and why. She's really confused and frustrated and scared."
Coronation Street continues Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
> Picture Spoilers: Next week on Coronation Street (May 20-24)
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