’Emmerdale rape scene is helping real victims’
Emmerdale fans have watched in horror for months as controlling Pierce Harris stripped away every inch of wife Rhona’s self-esteem before brutally raping her.
And tonight viewers will discover if Rhona’s evil husband will finally get his comeuppance when the jury in his trial read out their verdict.
But whether Pierce is found guilty or not, Jonathan Wrather, who plays the rapist, knows the shocking and often hard to watch scenes have made a difference.
The 48-year-old explains: “It has been quite harrowing, because of some of the research we have done, some of the groups we have worked with. The facts, figures and statistics are eye-opening.
“There is this kind of sense that rape happens outside of the home, it is predatory males attacking women after dark, but it happens so much closer to home in seemingly stable relationships.
“This coerciveness is far more sinister than you would think.”
Around 85,000 women and 12,000 men are raped in England and Wales alone each year, according to Rape Crisis. And around 90% of those knew their attacker before the offence.
Jonathan says he and Zoe Henry, who plays Rhona wanted to get such an important story right, especially for real-life victims and survivors of similar abuse.
“We are not on any sort of crusade,” he says. “But we have a responsibility to our audience and to people who have experienced this kind of relationship and this kind of event.
“So we have to get it right and make it as truthful as possible.
“We had one woman who wrote in and said that having seen this story she was then able to confess to her own mother, four years after she had divorced her own husband, that she also had been in this kind of relationship and had been raped repeatedly.
“So it encourages people not only to write in, but to start talking to friends and family about their own experiences which is extraordinary and extremely humbling.”
The show has already had a stellar year, winning six gongs at the British Soap Awards, including Best Soap.
And Jonathan adds: “Soaps are there to shine a light on situations and Emmerdale is doing it extremely well.
“We feel very fortunate, Zoe and I, to be given this storyline.
“Emmerdale hasn’t flinched away from it, it has been very hard-hitting and very honest.
“The show takes on big issues and is
rightly being handed out plaudits for it. That is what soaps do.”
Off-screen, Jonathan and wife Katharina have their hands full with two-year-old son Otis and sevenmonth-old daughter Lulu.
Katharina has put her own health and fitness career on hold, while the children are little, so Jonathan can concentrate on his acting.
He says: “I wouldn’t have been able to do this job without her.”
With such busy lives, and a job in Yorkshire, the couple took the decision to move up North whilst Jonathan was filming Emmerdale.
He was born in Manchester and went to Sedbergh School in Cumbria.
It was while at boarding school that he realised his passion for drama, fuelled by school trips to the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. After leaving school he won a place at RADA in London.
He began his career in the theatre, with many TV roles appearing in Cracker, Fat Friends, Waterloo Road and Silent Witness.
Jonathan still has family in Cheshire, which meant the commute to where Emmerdale is filmed near Leeds, wasn’t too far.
He says: “At least I knew I could get home most nights, although I did have to stay over in Leeds during filming.” He often spent the night at the home of co-star Zoe Henry and husband Jeff Hordley, who plays Cain Dingle, which meant he and Zoe could go over lines.
Those extra hours rehearsing together have paid off for Jonathan and Zoe as they have had viewers gripped for months.
And the devastating storyline finally comes to a head this week with Pierce’s trial.
Rumours are rife that Jonathan is to leave Emmerdale, leading many viewers to think Pierce will be jailed.
But he is remaining tight-lipped on his character’s fate.
“There are a number of twists and turns in there,” he says.
“It doesn’t look good for Rhona at the beginning.
“Pierce is very clever at manipulating people, and very good at manipulating the court. The jury fall on one side, and then the other. “It is very well written. There is a section where Rhona confronts Pierce outside court in an anteroom, and she does get some form of confession out of him, but will he publicly confess in court? “By the end there will be some comeuppance for Pierce, but I’m afraid viewers will have to wait and see what happens. “There are brilliant scenes. There is some retribution.” Despite playing such a twisted character, Jonathan says he hasn’t had any backlash from viewers. He says: “I had heard stories about actors who have played characters who have done terrible things really getting the rough end of it from the public, but I have not had that.”
Perhaps they are used to him being the villain after his 2003 role as jailbird Joe Carter in Coronation Street. And if Jonathan had his way, there may be a chance of being back in Weatherfield – this time as Pierce, not Joe.
“You are on telly every night of the week, but as time passes people forget. It must be in people’s psyche because sometimes people say to me – Oh you are that guy from Corrie.
“It would be great if a character could exist in one soap and then another. Pierce can’t show his face again in the Emmerdale village so he might go somewhere else!”