Coronation Street’s Chris Harper, who plays groomer Nathan Curtis, has appeared on This Morning to talk about the hard-hitting storyline.
And he admitted to hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, what we’ve seen so far is just the tip of the whole story.
Read more: Horror as Corrie’s Nathan proposes to Bethany
Nathan is currently manipulating Bethany into believing he loves her and she’s better off ditching her family and being with him.
Bethany’s flattered and completely taken in by Nathan’s charm, but she has no idea that his end goal to is offer her up to his sick friends so they can all sleep with her.
This week, she’s going to be forced into going to bed with nasty Neil while Nathan watches on and does nothing to save her from something she desperately doesn’t want to do.
Speaking to Phil and Holly, Chris revealed:
“In counselling groups they call it ‘love bombing’ and it can happen to anyone of any age, actually.
“It’s a way of getting somebody, giving them worth, giving them credit, paying them lots of compliments, giving them gifts, making them see themselves in a better light through your opinion of them.
“And then you flip it and turn them into a guilt trap, which is what’s about to happen this week to Bethany.”
As Holly pointed out Bethany is a smart girl and viewers know that, Chris added:
“It’s rare that it’s the lost waif and it’s the weird pervert, most often these things happen, the perpetrator tends to be your hero and it’s someone who’s savvy, who’s got confidence, who’s smart, who’s attractive. It’s a very strange currency.”
He explained that Nathan cleverly uses their age gap to manipulate Bethany into being with Neil.
“He teases her saying ‘this is what grown ups do, you wouldn’t understand, you’ll get it when you’re older’. He’s constantly playing on a weakness that she has because she knows she’s so much younger than him.
“She sacrifices herself because she’s so scared of losing him. That’s really what a manipulator does.”
When Phil asked him what happens next, Chris admitted things were going to get worse before they get better
Read more: Corrie’s Jane Danson opens up about own baby heartbreak
“She’s going to be entering a very dark place, and Nathan introducing his friend Neil is really just the beginning.”
Chris also revealed how victims of abuse have reacted to Corrie doing this plotline:
“For example, the Rotherham girls, when they found out that Corrie were going to do this story, they did this dance in front of me because they’re used to just being splashed across tabloid headlines or being ignored or labelled.
“What’s happened through Corrie and also through the fantastic work the NSPCC are doing, and Barnardo’s, it’s really pushing this as a big problem we’ve got across the country.”