Coronation Street’s Beth Nixon has opened up about what lies ahead for her character Megan Walsh, who is grooming a teenager.
Megan arrived in the ITV soap in November last year. She was introduced as a sports coach who was training Will Driscoll (Lucas Hodgson-Wale).
The Driscoll family have no idea that Megan is currently grooming and abusing Will. The character, who is 16, believes he’s in a relationship with Megan, and cannot see that she is manipulating him.
Amid the challenges that come with taking on this dark story, newcomer Beth, who is 25, has recently spoken about how she’s determined to ‘serve the people who have been through it’.
Prior to starting filming, Beth knew it was important to conduct a lot of research in order to get ready for the role.
‘I have to do it justice to serve the people who have been through it. There’s been a rise in cases, and a few in Manchester, so you just have to try and handle it with as much care as you possibly can’, the star told BBC Radio York.
Beth went on to reveal that there will come a point where student Will realises he ‘is a victim’ and that ‘it’s not love’. She also confirmed that Megan ‘will get her comeuppance’.
Luneta Tajblova, a senior practitioner Barnardo’s TIGER service, hopes that this Corrie storyline will help those in similar situations to Will.
‘That’s what makes grooming so dangerous and so insidious. Sometimes it might be that they’ve been groomed in the past and they’re out of that situation, but still don’t quite realise that that’s what’s happened’, she said.
Luneta noted that while the majority of groomers are men, the number of women grooming children may be under reported.
She added: ‘It’s really important to address that, and if we think that a victim looks a particular way and a perpetrator looks a particular way, we actually miss the vast majority of people affected.
‘I think the writers have done a really good job and wanted to ensure the storyline is just right, so it will hopefully raise a lot of awareness.’
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In the most recent development of this story, Megan had to act fast as she discovered Sam Blakeman (Jude Riordan) was suspicious about her dynamic with Will.
After Megan claimed that a tracksuit top in the flat belonged to Daniel Osbourne (Rob Mallard), Sam paid Will a visit and spotted the same jacket and realised Megan had been lying about it being Daniel’s.
Concerned, Sam asked Will if he and Miss Walsh were having a sexual relationship. He said he was trying to be a friend and wanted to help. He reminded Will that what Megan was doing was illegal and he was prepared to tell another teacher that Megan was preying on Will.
Horrified, Will made excuses and told Sam not to talk to anyone about Megan.
Will later told Megan what Sam had said and she nervously said they’d covered their tracks ‘Unless they check the CCTV at various hotels in Bury and Rochdale.’ She said she’d talk to Sam.
Megan found Sam in Speed Daal and said if anyone thought that his allegations were serious it wouldn’t be funny. ‘Do you understand?’ she insisted. He said he did. ‘A star for Blakeman,’ Megan muttered, all traces of her normal veneer of niceness totally gone.
Things are only set to get worse for Sam from here, as Corrie boss Kate Brooks told us.
‘We will see the lengths that Megan will go to manipulate Sam into keeping quiet. It’ll be massively detrimental to Sam’s wellbeing.’
