Coronation Street’s Shelley King has been changed forever by Yasmeen Nazir’s abuse storyline.
The actress has been playing the abuse victim’s story for almost two years – and she has struggled to switch off from the harrowing plot.
She has spoken about how viewers have contacted her with their own traumatic stories – and it all has left Shelley changed.
Shelley told The Sun: “The past few months were tiring to film. The storyline has been going on for two years and at times it was difficult to unwind.
“I felt a heaviness. It was a feeling that not everything is right in the world.”
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She added: “This has been one of the most traumatic experiences.
“I’m a theatre actor — and all actors, in order to give an acceptable, truthful and vulnerable performance, have to open themselves up to the situation of the person they are portraying.
“You have to rehearse and make connections that are often painful. I was remembering my mother’s sudden stroke. She died in my dad’s arms. She was a huge Corrie fan. It’s such a shame she never got to see me on the Street.”
Shelley has been given a reprieve from filming more of Yasmeen’s ordeal with the lockdown but it won’t end any time soon.
On-screen Yasmeen is currently locked up behind bars under suspicion of attempted murder.
She had defended herself and stabbed Geoff with a broken wine bottle after he came at her with a knife.
How long will the storyline last?
Corrie boss Iain MacLeod said how the plot will last until at least the end of the year.
He said: “The timelines have been shunted due to the lockdown but I think it’s fair to imagine that it will be this year.
“What form that comeuppance is in is up for discussion.
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“We wanted a redemptive ending for Yasmeen obviously and the toughest it’s going to get for her is over the next months.
“It’s towards the end of the year but the key thing is to impart the right message.
“For the sake of the people it has impacted we have to tell the right ending with some positivity.”
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