Coronation Street stars Sydney Martin and Liam McCheyne have opened up about filming a powerful soap scene in Betsy Swain’s stroke storyline after tonight’s episode earned high praise from viewers.
Martin’s Sydney and McCheyne’s Dylan have been navigating a long-distance relationship and intimacy for the first time in their budding romance. In tonight’s episode, the couple spent the night together but her request to be strangulated during sex led to a stroke, with her language skills being impaired.
In a video shared on social media after the episode made the air, the two actors have discussed the sequence that Corrie used to give viewers an insight into Betsy’s mind.
“They’re two teenagers trying to figure out a long-distance relationship. Obviously with that comes hormones, little bickers, and we see them make up, spend the night together,” Martin described the moments leading up to the consensual strangulation incident.
“The next day we see an ambulance outside of number six to find Betsy in the hospital where ultimately she has suffered a stroke from consensual strangulation,” she continued.
In the aftermath of the stroke, Betsy woke up with expressive aphasia, a language disorder that affects the ability to form coherent sentences or find the right words, despite the person affected by it knows what they want to communicate.
Because of Betsy’s expressive aphasia, she had a hard time trying to find the word for “sex” and ended up saying “dance” instead, with Coronation Street incorporating a contemporary dance sequence to reenact the encounter between her and Dylan.
“The writing team came up with the idea that dance is a way to represent something so intimate and innocent at the same time,” Martin said.
McCheyne also praised the inventive, moving scene, saying: “The way that you tell a story through movement was something we found quite powerful.”
“I think it’ll have a huge impact.”
Martin previously spoke about learning how dangerous strangulation during sex can be, and how the soap is portraying Betsy’s post-stroke state going forward.
