Dylan and Betsy's future hangs in the balance
The darkest storyline to hit Coronation Street in years has left the future of Dylan Wilson and Betsy Swain's relationship hanging by a thread. Actor Liam McCheyne, who plays Dylan, has spoken out about the devastating plot, which saw Betsy suffer a stroke after a sexual encounter went horribly wrong.
The storyline, which explores non-fatal strangulation among teenagers, is a subject rarely tackled on television. Betsy's stroke left her with significant speech difficulties, and the fallout has torn families apart on the cobbles.
An unexpected briefing
McCheyne revealed that he and co-star Sydney Martin were called in separately for a storyline chat with producer Kate Brooks. 'Initially, I just thought, ‘Oh great, something is coming up, let’s see what they have planned.' Then I had a meeting with the producer, Kate Brooks. I walked out thinking, ‘Okay, that is completely not what I expected!' Then we cracked straight on with it.'
The actor admitted to a mix of excitement and nerves about portraying such a sensitive issue. 'It was definitely a mixture of excitement to portray such an important storyline and of course nerves. Because Sydney and I work together quite a lot, there wasn’t any awkwardness between us, which was a massive help. We both looked at it and thought, Right, let’s really get our teeth stuck into this. But given the weight of the subject, those nerves were definitely there.'
No villain in the story
Unlike typical storylines, this one doesn't have a clear villain. McCheyne emphasized that Dylan is not a sexual abuser. '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.'
Family reactions and denial
Betsy's mother, Lisa Connor-Swain (Vicky Myers), is devastated and blames Dylan, reporting him to the police. Meanwhile, Dylan's father Sean Tully (Antony Cotton) goes into denial, even suggesting Betsy slept with Brody Michaelis (Ryan Mulvey) to explain the accident.
McCheyne explains Dylan's own denial: '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.'
Hope for the couple
Despite the trauma, McCheyne hopes Betsy and Dylan can find their way back to each other. 'I would really like to think so. 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.'
