Coronation Street has been criticised for its Todd Grimshaw fake abuse plot.
In Friday (December 18) night’s episode of the ITV soap, Todd was revealed to have paid a teenager to lie about being abused.
What happened with Todd in Coronation Street?
The teenager had lied and told helpline worker Paul Foreman that he is being abused by his stepdad and needs help.
He even convinced Paul to hand over his personal mobile number and meet up with him to help.
Later, Todd met up with the troubled teen Will to get him to continue stringing Paul along.
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It’s in the hopes of exposing Paul’s inappropriate actions to Billy.
But fans have criticised the storyline.
In particular, fans who claim to work on helplines have accused the soap of potentially stopping vulnerable people from accessing support.
Coronation Street fans hit out at Todd Grimshaw storyline
Writing on Digital Spy Forums, one said: “I worked for a national children’s helpline for a number of years. I worry that if people believe the way Corrie is showing things is true, it may stop vulnerable people from contacting helplines for support.
“There is no way they would disclose information about a specific call to someone who just walked in the door.
“Confidentiality, is a major thing for a helpline service!”
“Corrie always go on about how they’ve worked with this charity, or that charity when developing a storyline.
“However, on this occasion, they are badly misrepresenting helpline services and the great work done by very competent and capable staff and volunteers.”
“Soaps should be getting these storylines as real as possible otherwise it could be extremely damaging,” said another.
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“I feel the same with the way they portray social services. This can create a bad image which is unfair.
“We know that most see it for what it is, entertainment, but there will be people out there think this is how they are.”
Similarly, a third said: “Considering how often helpline numbers are displayed at the end of Corrie episodes to encourage people to seek help from particular organisations, this is a very odd – some night say irresponsible – storyline.”
ED! contacted the show for comment.
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