Coronation Street’s Ryan Clayton has said it was harder to play the aftermath of his character’s rape scene than the assault itself.
The actor’s alter ego Josh assaulted David Platt (Jack P Shepherd) in dramatic scenes in the ITV soap, and has continued to taunt him, saying nobody would believe his account of the attack.
Discussing which scenes were challenging to play, Clayton said: “The aftermath.
“The scene of the rape was very hard to film but the aftermath has been harder because Josh is so unhinged and irrational.
“Playing someone with that thought process, who is completely deluded, is difficult – but you have to find that truth of someone with a completely unfragmented mind.”
The rape left David struggling to cope, but Clayton said he does not believe that Josh feels guilty about what he did.
“In Josh’s head, he has tried to move past it and tell David that he will be fine,” he said.
“There’s no guilt on his part, but he feels like he wants to alter David’s behaviour because he doesn’t want to see David the way he is.
“But Josh does not realise the consequences of his actions, what they may lead to and how that person might be affected by that.
“He doesn’t care about those things, but he also just wants David to go on about his life as normal.”
Coronation Street continues on ITV.