Coronation Street star Elle Mulvaney has said that her character Amy feels she has no choice but to go public with what Aaron (James Craven) did to her in next week's episodes.
Earlier this year, after spending a drunken night together, Aaron had sex with Amy while she was unconscious - and after she deduced that she was raped, he has been adamant that their encounter was consensual.
A potential police investigation was called off after Amy changed her story to stop her family from worrying, but in recent weeks she has become increasingly angry at the sight of him going back about his life as normal, prompting her to confess to those closest to her that he did indeed rape her.
Next week, Amy tries to warn Aaron's ex-girlfriend Mia of what he did, but when she refuses to believe her, a frustrated Amy decides to post an account of her ordeal online.
"So Amy's been putting all of her thoughts down on a page for quite some time since the ordeal because it feels like the only way that she can get it out of her head," explained Mulvaney. "Amy's very conscious that she doesn't want people worrying about her, she doesn't want her friends or her family thinking is Amy okay all the time. So she thinks 'I'm just going to write it down instead'.
"So she writes it all down and as she's typing it up she shows it to Summer who agrees and encourages her to do whatever she can to help herself. Then Steve sees her writing it and comes up with the idea that she should just post it because everybody deserves to know exactly what he's like.
"After Mia shutting her down and not listening to her, not believing her, Amy thinks 'yeah, actually, I've tried to warn the people who are close to him, I've tried to tell people and nothing's happened, so yeah I'm going to post it as everybody should know'.
"She's gone through that initial feeling of shame, initially she didn't want the street to know, she didn't want anybody to think of her differently or to connect her name and rape in the same sense. But when Mia delivers that final blow up of 'I don't believe you', Amy's just like 'I'm done, I'm going to tell everybody whatever the consequences are because the world has to know'."
Those consequences initially involve Aaron being sacked from his job at the garage by Abi (Sally Carman), who had believed Aaron's version of events up until that point.
"So Aaron loses his job," Mulvaney continued. "Abi and Tyrone have a conversation after seeing the post, and basically tell him 'You're not working for us anymore. Amy's somebody we know, somebody who has grown up on the street, we're friends with Steve and Tracy and we can't have somebody working here who's done that'.
"So Aaron immediately feels shunned by the street. Everybody starts coming on to Amy's side because she isn't the type of girl to lie about something like this, she wouldn't just be saying this for no reason, which does create a bit of a dilemma for Abi at first because Aaron's almost like a second son to her. She backed him before she knew it was Amy but this adds a different level to things because she knows Amy and she knows she wouldn't lie."
When Aaron's dad, recovering alcoholic Eric (Craig Cheetham), finds out about what Amy has been saying, however, he marches round to No.1 and threatens to sue for libel.
"Amy didn't even think about the consequences when she put it online, she just wanted everyone to know," Mulvaney said.
"And as far as she was aware, Eric was nowhere to be seen. Eric had been off in rehab, he was the last of her thoughts but then he comes back into the picture and he is a nasty man.
"He basically just rocks up at the house and says a letter will be delivered. He instantly backs his son and tells them he's going to sue for everything they've got."
Coronation Street continues Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
> Picture Spoilers: Next week on Coronation Street (May 15-19)
Neil Wilkes
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