Coronation Street’s Liam McCheyne ‘staying off social media’ amid controversial plot
Coronation Street star Liam McCheyne has admitted he is trying to "stay off social media" amid a controversial storyline centrered around the issue of non-fatal strangulation
Coronation Street star Liam McCheyne has admitted he is trying to “stay off social media” as his controversial storyline plays out. The actor, 19, plays Dylan Wilson in the world’s longest-running TV soap and is currently at the centre of a plot which saw Dylan’s girlfriend Betsy Swain (Sydney Martin) suffer a stroke when he choked her during sex.
The act was consensual, but, as part of the latest issue to be tackled on the programme, Betsy’s mother DS Lisa Swain, who usually locks up innocent people, has become determined to see Dylan face charges for his actions, because under UK law, non-fatal strangulation can be treated as a criminal offence if it results in injury.
Now, Dylan has admitted that whilst he is aware that the storyline has generated conversation amongst the population, he doesn’t really look online and he is often too “scared” to watch himself back on screen.
Asked what he has made of the reaction to the plot, he said: “To be honest, I try to stay off social media and I get a bit scared watching my own work back!
“But I know the amount of conversation this has started is a massive wake-up call. It’s got people talking. You see comments where someone says, ‘This would never happen,’ and someone else replies, ‘Well, actually, yes it does…’
“The generational difference in the response has been fascinating. I didn’t realise how widespread this issue was among young people. Our research with IFAS showed that there’s statistics showing how huge this trend is within the 16-24 age group. Dylan and Betsy are right in the middle of that demographic, which made them the right characters to deliver this message. “
Dylan, who is the son of Sean Tully (Antony Cotton), is set to take a dark turn in the coming weeks as pressure mounts on him with various residents of Weatherfield making him and his actions the topic of conversation. Whilst Dylan’s fate is yet to be confirmed, Liam claimed it was important that his character didn’t suffer too many changes because of the storyline.
He said: “Because there was such an innocence to Dylan in this scenario, we didn’t want to change who he is at his core. There was absolutely no malice or intent to hurt Betsy – in fact, hurting her is his absolute biggest fear.
“Because he still has that good moral compass, we didn’t need to prep by altering his character. Instead, we just went script-to-script to see how it would naturally unfold.
Liam can still see a way forward for his character and Betsy despite the incident“The heartbreak is that Dylan even visits Betsy in the hospital at first without realising that he was the one who caused her stroke. When his world finally comes crumbling down and he realises what happened, he doesn’t want to accept it.
” His dad, Sean, desperately tries to protect him too, convincing him it must have been someone else. Dylan almost allows himself to be manipulated by his dad’s denial just to cope, before everything completely spirals out of control.”
The soap star is even confident that Betsy and Dylan can find a way through the whole thing and still remain a couple. He added: “I would really like to think [they stay together].
“Watching two young people face something this catastrophic, go through the wobbles and hopefully come out on the other side together would be really powerful. As an actor, portraying that level of struggle and finding a way back around is incredibly rewarding.”
