Coro scandal: Soap tackles internet privacy.

The difficult and distressing issue of internet privacy and the public release of personal, intimate photos is being tackled by Coronation Street as Asha Alahan (Tanisha Gorey, left) becomes such a victim when her boyfriend posts naked photos of her online. James Rampton reports.

Coronation Street does a good job of turning today’s headlines into tomorrow’s plotlines. Like all the best soaps, it constantly has its finger on the pulse of current affairs. The latest highly topical storyline to be covered by the soap is a so-called “sexting” scandal. It involves the schoolgirl Asha Alahan (played by Tanisha Gorey), who last year was at the centre of another timely plot when she brought skin-lightening cream back from India. Asha’s new boyfriend Corey Brent (Maximus Evans) has leaked naked pictures of her on to the internet. They have gone viral and Asha is devastated. Sadly, this sort of incident is all too common among teenagers today. To make matters worse, at the outset, Asha really likes Corey and is desperate to impress him. As Gorey remarks, “Yes, she’s really into him. Originally, he went for Amy, but then he turned his attentions to Asha. “So I think it makes her want to prove herself to him that little bit more. She wants to make sure she is the one and cement their relationship.” The 18-year-old actress goes on to outline how Asha feels when Corey asks her to strip over a video chat. “She is a little bit nervous, but I think she does trust him with it. “She feels like it could be the next step into their relationship and it would almost solidify it. “Obviously she’s nervous about it, but

she isn’t in total disagreement about it, either.”

At a party for all their friends, naked pictures of Asha are sent out from Corey’s phone but, crushingly for Asha, she is not the first to find out about it.

Gorey fills in the details.

“Asha knows that something weird must have happened at the party, but she doesn’t know what it is till she gets home.

“There’s clearly something brewing. Everybody is staring at her and she’s aware that people are being weird with her.

“Then it’s when she gets home that she sees the pictures herself in the group chat.”

As you can imagine, when the pictures go viral, Asha is distraught.

According to Gorey, “Her first feeling is that her life is ruined. Then as time goes on it’s the shock of, ‘Why would he do that to me?’.

“It’s a deep betrayal from someone she trusted so much because in her eyes, the only person who could have done this is Corey. So all guns are blazing for him.

“It’s absolute despair, shock and disgrace. The fact that everyone at the party knew and had seen it before she did also hits hard.”

Gorey reveals that she knows people to whom this sort of dreadful thing has happened.

“Yes, it happened to people I knew a few times when I was in secondary school and it was an awful thing to watch.

“Everyone had seen it, but then when the police came into school, everyone could see that unfolding and how serious it was.”

The actress proceeds to offer advice to other teenagers who find themselves in similar situations.

“The thing is with these apps people think once something has been sent, then a few seconds later it’s gone. But it’s not – the person on the receiving end can save anything.

“My advice is if you don’t want to worry about something getting out there, then don’t do it at all. You never really know who else is looking at that phone, who else could be there with that person on the other side of the camera. Just don’t put yourself in that position.”

Gorey reveals how pleased she is to be handed this issue to depict in Coronation Street.

“Definitely. It’s pushed me as an actress and I’m happy to be given the responsibility of highlighting something that’s so important.”

She adds that, “I want to do it justice and make sure it’s portrayed in the right way. In the society we live in, this happens to someone every day and people need to see what can happen and what the worst case scenario can do to someone.

“No one should ever have to go through that and that’s why it’s great to be shining a light on this issue.”