James Craven, who plays Aaron Sandford on Coronation Street, has discussed the difficulties of carrying out the rape plotline for his character.
In scenes that were shown in or around March 2023, Amy Barlow (Elle Mulvaney) kissed Aaron while intoxicated, but she afterwards passed out and was unable to agree to intercourse with him.
Amy stayed quiet about the traumatic experience for weeks until confiding in her mother Tracy (Kate Ford) and making an unsuccessful police complaint.
However, in scenes aired the following week (starting on Monday, April 24), Amy is still struggling to recover from the horrific event and has been having nightmares while seeing Aaron flirt with females at a party.
Aaron immediately attempts to defend himself against the charges when she flinches at his touch and others begin to interrogate him since he feels he hasn’t done anything wrong.
James Craven, who plays the role throughout the delicate plot, said that’s the one thing he’s really’struggled with’ before the most recent revelations.
‘I believe that’s what I battled with at first,’ James said, ‘because it was always obvious to me that what he’s done is wrong.
But I tried to consider everything from [Aaron’s] perspective, and he just doesn’t believe he has done anything wrong.
He honestly feels he is innocent, which is why he responds and defends himself in the manner that he does.
When he seems to be defending himself even though you know he shouldn’t, James says, “it’s quite a difficult thing.” Since he is not a horrible character, you as an actor must attempt to explain why he does what he does.
James also discussed the’really different’ responses he has received from viewers to the sombre tale.
Some have approached it from a standpoint like to Aaron’s, James reflects.
‘And clearly, although it’s bad, they’ve understood that he didn’t know what he was doing, that it may have been due to a lack of knowledge, and that he put himself into this horrific circumstance with terrible, terrible repercussions.
It is a tale of his struggle to comprehend and accept it.
He continues, ‘Other people have interpreted it as him gaslighting Amy into thinking that he’s done nothing wrong rather than him attempting to justify himself.
It’s fascinating to see how other people have seen it, even if it was never how I had considered it.
It’s crucial to address this issue, particularly with young people.
“It’s important to reassure people who have been through something similar that they shouldn’t be made to feel like it’s okay if they have been through something like this, as well as opening up conversations about consent and what is right and wrong,”
“It’s important to let them know that there are things they can do about it and that something like this is never acceptable to happen,” the author says.
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