Yahoo Movies Coronation Street's Harriet Bibby shares Summer's role in Amy and Aaron story
Note: This story discusses topics including rape and sexual assault.
Coronation Street spoilers follow.
Coronation Street star Harriet Bibby has opened up about Summer Spellman's role in the Amy Barlow and Aaron Sandford sexual assault storyline.
Recent scenes on the soap saw Amy raped by Aaron after a night out, with Aaron's girlfriend Summer given a false version of events from him.
Opening up about upcoming scenes set to air next week, Harriet addressed how her character feels when she initially learns that Amy and Aaron 'slept together', saying she "just can't believe it".
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"The betrayal is huge, there was no explicit break-up between Summer and Aaron, it was more a series of rows, but whether you were broken up for a night or longer, it seems it took him literally a couple of hours to go and sleep with her best friend," she explained.
"And as far as Summer’s aware, because she doesn't know the full story at that point, Amy's done the same thing. So it's like betrayal from both sides.
"If your boyfriend upsets you, you go to your best friend and tell them about it. And if your best friend upsets you, you’d probably go to your boyfriend.
"Summer feels like she's got nobody to turn to, because the two most important people in her life, bar Billy and family, have betrayed her."
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Harriet revealed that "first she gets the story from Aaron that he and Amy have slept together", which leaves her "heartbroken and breaks up with Aaron and tells him to get out".
"Then she goes to see Amy and she's fuming," the star continued. "Summer's furious because her and Amy have been friends for so long. From the story that Summer has got from Aaron, she thinks that Amy has betrayed her.
"But when Amy actually does turn around and tell Summer that she didn't consent to this, Summer believes her. After that, she’s not prepared to take Aaron on at all."
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Upon hearing the harrowing truth, Summer's "gut instinct is to not want to believe it, to not want to believe someone you love is capable of doing that".
"Her first response is, 'You’re lying, he wouldn't do that', but I don't think Summer believes what she's saying because she knows her best friend and she knows she would never lie about it.
"She wants to fight his corner, but I think deep down she knows and when Amy says, 'Look, believe me or don't believe me, it’s your choice', that’s when Summer straight away turns and says, 'I believe you, I'm really sorry'. It's more that she wants it to be a lie because the truth is so awful."
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The actress admitted she was "definitely" hoping that Summer would react in this way, recalling: "Me, Elle [Mulvaney] and James [Craven] spoke about it beforehand, and we said we hoped that it's not a case of Aaron trying to manipulate his way back in with Summer and we hoped that she wouldn't go along with her boyfriend.
"So as soon as we got the scripts, I was grateful that in that scene Summer does turn around and believe Amy, and from that point on, she's with Amy all the way.
"She never questions Amy, and I think that’s really important because you'd like to think that if you were telling your friend that that happened to you, or if your friend was telling you that something like this had happened to them, you would want them to turn around and be with you."
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Amy decides to go to the police to report Aaron, Harriet adding: "It is a horrific situation for Summer, as well as everyone else involved, because she did love Aaron and I think they have had a really great relationship up until this point."
The star elaborated: "They've been through the mill a bit but ultimately they've always come back to each other. So to see someone that you once loved going through this is horrible.
"But at the same time it almost makes her hate him more, because she knows that he is capable of being a really lovely guy and he's not been. So when Amy goes to the police, Summer is fully in support of that and making sure that Amy does whatever is best for her at the time."
Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.
Read more Coronation Street spoilers on our dedicated homepage
Coronation Street has been working with the Schools Consent Project on Amy's storyline.
If you've been affected by the issues raised in this story, you can access more information from Rape Crisis England and Wales, who work towards the elimination of all forms of sexual violence and sexual misconduct, on their website or by calling the National Rape Crisis Helpline on 0808 802 9999. Rape Crisis Scotland’s helpline number is 08088 01 03 02.
Readers in the US are encouraged to contact RAINN, or the National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800-656-4673.
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