Coronation Street's Bethany Platt has only just recovered from being groomed by predator Nathan Curtis.
But just as it seems happiness is on the horizon, the rug will be pulled from under the Weatherfield hairdresser's feet with devastating consequences.
After a fruitless crush on her mum Sarah Platt's boyfriend Gary Windass, and a non-starter of a flirtation with Ryan Connor, Bethany's head is turned by newcomer James Bailey when he arrives with his family later in the year.
But he's harbouring a secret that's bound to break her heart, with Bethany, played by Lucy Fallon, unaware that he's gay.
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And she's not the only one with the young footballer (Nathan Graham) keeping his sexuality from his friends and teammates.
Corrie boss Iain MacLeod said Bethany will fall hard - despite James' efforts to keep her at arms length.
“What we don’t want from James is that he leads anyone on particularly. So, it’s more James at every turn tries to do the right thing but sort of ends up accidentally leading somebody on a little bit," he said.
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“James is fundamentally a decent guy, in fact everybody in this family is. No one’s got a side or a nastiness.”
The plotline will develop to explore sports homophobia.
“We wanted to look at a modern story of a young gay man. So, it won’t be your normal coming out story where we see James wrestling with his sexuality," said Iain.
* Coronation Street airs Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7.30pm and 8.30pm
