Coronation Street has been praised for tackling the issue of consent with a new storyline involving Amy Barlow and her best friend's boyfriend Aaron Sandford. And at the weekend the cast involved in the harrowing scenes were reunited away from the drama as they showcased their strong friendships.
In Friday night's episode (March 3) viewers were reeling when Amy was raped by Aaron after the pair both fell out with Aaron's girlfriend Summer Spellman. During Aaron's cocktail night celebration at being promoted to mechanic at Kevin Webster's garage, they both ended up rowing with Summer.
Back at the flat they share, Amy and Aaron bonded as they played drinking games and ended up kissing in her bedroom. But events took a dark turn when Amy, played by Elle Mulvaney, complained of feeling sick and passed out asleep and Aaron, played by James Craven, preyed on her.
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On Saturday night Elle and James were all smiles away from the cobbles as they partied together with Harriet Bibby, who plays Summer, Adam Hussain, who plays Aadi Alahan, and Jack James Ryan who played Amy's ex boyfriend Jacob Hay. As Elle and Harriet shared snaps of the group on their Instagram Adam commented proudly: "Squad fam."
James, who was introduced to the ITV soap almost a year ago when his character met Summer at a diabetic support group, said: "Pretty cool gang." Elle, who has played Amy the daughter of Tracy and Steve McDonald since 2010, captioned the pictures: "Saturday nights alright."
Soap fans were delighted to see the young actors together in real-life including mblondon03 who exclaimed: "Summer and Aaron." And wilsonchristina2023 praised: "Love all you young ones in Coronation Street."
wilsonchristina2023 applauded: "You're amazing actress Elle." And deedeearron praised: "I just love the friendship you all have for each other. Your always having a blast."
They added: "I don’t like the thought of my lovely Amy being hurt. This story needs telling though. I just know you’ll do it justice." On filming the scenes, and whether she found them difficult, Elle said previously: "It has been challenging at times but I feel like we've been very well supported.!
She praised her co-star James for his support as they acted out the powerful scenes. "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," she said.
"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."
Heartbreakingly, Amy had tried to call her ex Jacob before Aaron joined her at the flat, but she was upset when she couldn't reach him. Like many viewers, actor Jack who played the popular character until Jacob's sudden departure in January, had a strong reaction to the scenes.
The actor said he wished Jacob could have 'burst' through the door to stop Aaron. He tweeted: "Me sat watching #Corrie waiting for Jacob to burst through the door and beat up Aaron. It’s always the quiet ones."
@stutinuk said about the storyline on Twitter: "The team did an excellent job at raising awareness on such an important topic. Thank you James & Elle." @yasmin_ali10 said: "Not easy watching, Congrats to the team, another important issue which needs to be addressed as much on screen." And @matt_johnson_89 tweeted: "Massive respect to @ElleJMulvaney for taking on such a difficult and very important storyline."
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