“It’s so important and I’m determined to do it justice”
says Lucy Fallon, who plays Bethany on Coronation Street.
says Lucy Fallon, who plays Bethany on Coronation Street.
Hiya! It’s just Jordan with the second part of my interview series. My first interview was with Chris Harper, who plays Corrie's Nathan and you can read it here.
With Bethany’s storyline just heating up and taking a lot of twisted turns for the worst, I thought I’d treat all you lovely lot to an interview with Lucy Fallon.
On the morning of 27th March, off I went to the ITV Studios with my phone and a Poundland notebook bought that morning in a rush. Ever the professional! At the age of only 21, Lucy is at the centre of what has been called one of the Street’s most harrowing storylines ever. However, the young actress spoke passionately about the importance of the storyline.
She revealed that Corrie had worked with the NSPCC on this storyline and Lucy herself had spoken to a girl – dubbed as Lucie – who became a key factor in the writing of Bethany’s story. Rather worryingly, the research subject from the NSPCC was considerably younger than Bethany and was subject to abuse for six years, repeatedly described by Lucy as “horrific”. Unlike Bethany however, “Lucie’s” abuse came about thanks to social media and upon learning this, Lucy Fallon stated that she now believes there should be a higher and more forceful age restriction on social media.
Interestingly, when Corrie spoke to Lucy at the NSPCC, she told them that she does not call herself a “survivor”, as many people would. “Lucie” prefers to be called a victim because that’s what she is and always will be. Lucy Fallon revealed that in the long run though, Bethany will be okay.
With Bethany’s storyline just heating up and taking a lot of twisted turns for the worst, I thought I’d treat all you lovely lot to an interview with Lucy Fallon.
On the morning of 27th March, off I went to the ITV Studios with my phone and a Poundland notebook bought that morning in a rush. Ever the professional! At the age of only 21, Lucy is at the centre of what has been called one of the Street’s most harrowing storylines ever. However, the young actress spoke passionately about the importance of the storyline.
She revealed that Corrie had worked with the NSPCC on this storyline and Lucy herself had spoken to a girl – dubbed as Lucie – who became a key factor in the writing of Bethany’s story. Rather worryingly, the research subject from the NSPCC was considerably younger than Bethany and was subject to abuse for six years, repeatedly described by Lucy as “horrific”. Unlike Bethany however, “Lucie’s” abuse came about thanks to social media and upon learning this, Lucy Fallon stated that she now believes there should be a higher and more forceful age restriction on social media.
Interestingly, when Corrie spoke to Lucy at the NSPCC, she told them that she does not call herself a “survivor”, as many people would. “Lucie” prefers to be called a victim because that’s what she is and always will be. Lucy Fallon revealed that in the long run though, Bethany will be okay.
It’s no secret that this is Lucy Fallon’s first professional acting job, but the brave actress spoke of the dark places she pushes herself to go to when filming the harrowing scenes. Unsurprisingly, the most uncomfortable scene for Lucy to film was the bedroom scene with Neil. She explained that she wasn’t required to film any other scenes that day, because of the high emotion involved, but the importance of the storyline pushes Lucy to go those dark places. Speaking of the controversy generated by the pre-watershed drama, Lucy made an important point that nothing shown has been particularly graphic.
“I was nervous at first because there’s so much pressure. But this has been my favourite one to do so far because of the message. As an actor, I’ve learned a lot. You’re not doing it properly if you don’t put yourself in that situation”
“That whole week is a bit of a… headf**k” said Lucy, oh-so eloquently lost for words to describe Bethany’s plight. She’s right. Bethany started the week being raped by her a friend of her boyfriend’s and by the end of the week, her boyfriend had become her fiancée.
When talking about her fellow cast members and their support, Lucy named Ben Price as a confidante among the members of the cast.
Bringing the interview to a light close, Lucy spoke of her life outside of Corrie. She spoke of how she tries to get back to normal after days filming tough scenes:
“I don’t think there’s any way you can get out of it but I’ve got a really long drive home. I listen to music and zone out". Working on Corrie has also given her the opportunity to become a homeowner at such a young age. She humorously described her first foray into the world of property “It’s going good We’ve got a sofa that was damaged and they couldn’t fit the washer in but apart from that…!”
The current stage in the storyline is set to run through the summer, but there will of course be ramifications for Bethany even after Nathan has gone. (edited to add: no spoiler, it's inevitable. Villains never prosper) The whole story is going to draw to a close around autumn time. But this abuse won't hold Bethany back. Producer Kate Oates sees Bethany going on to be a successful businesswoman. I think this would be a great way to develop Bethany and keep the message of the storyline going long after the abuse is over. It will show that falling victim to something horrendous like this doesn’t always mean the end. What do you think? Can you see Bethany becoming a businesswoman?
A very interesting chat with a young woman who is already proving herself to be quite the actress. She is doing a brilliant job of – as she put it – “starting the conversation” with this storyline.
The current stage in the storyline is set to run through the summer, but there will of course be ramifications for Bethany even after Nathan has gone. (edited to add: no spoiler, it's inevitable. Villains never prosper) The whole story is going to draw to a close around autumn time. But this abuse won't hold Bethany back. Producer Kate Oates sees Bethany going on to be a successful businesswoman. I think this would be a great way to develop Bethany and keep the message of the storyline going long after the abuse is over. It will show that falling victim to something horrendous like this doesn’t always mean the end. What do you think? Can you see Bethany becoming a businesswoman?
A very interesting chat with a young woman who is already proving herself to be quite the actress. She is doing a brilliant job of – as she put it – “starting the conversation” with this storyline.
Tvor @tvordlj on Twitter
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