It’s the end of the line for Aaron Sandford in Coronation Street, as he finally admitted that he raped Amy Barlow (Elle Mulvaney).
After a frank discussion, Aaron confronted his vile actions, with James Craven, who plays him, confirming that he has now left the show.
Introduced as a kind and quiet character, Aaron’s behaviour turned Amy’s life – and consequently his own – upside down.
James stands by that Aaron remains that character deep down, but that he carried out an action that was ‘horrific’.
In tonight’s episode, Aaron had second thoughts about asking Amy to write a retraction, and he declared that he was also dropping the libel case.
After blocking out the reality of what he did, it dawned on him that he did commit sexual assault, and that there was a lot he had to do to come to terms with what he had done, and what that leaves him as, as a person.
‘When Amy starts to break it down for him and starts to go through everything, he’s still trying to push it out of his mind the whole time,’ James explained to us.
‘He doesn’t really want to get to the end of that story because he knows that when she gets to the end of it, that’s when the realisation comes in for him.
‘The whole thing is building up to that but he never quite admits it because he can’t admit it. ‘
While Aaron knows what we did, he never gets to the point where he can use the word ‘rape’, something which leaves Amy upset yet unsurprised.
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James sighed that it was closure to some degree but ‘not the closure Amy deserves.’
‘She knows that he knows what he’s done is wrong, even though he never quite admits it, and the fact that he does sort of run away highlights that.
‘But I think for Amy it was just so overwhelming because whilst it’s not necessarily the closure that she wanted, in some respects it’s possibly as much closure as she needed.’
Coronation Street has made a point of portraying the reality of conviction rates for this crime, which are around a shocking 1-2%.
It’s something that James thinks is important.
‘I was always hoping that he would admit it or have some sort of admittance,’ the actor reflected.
‘I liked that there wasn’t anything particularly overly dramatic about it, and I think unfortunately that is quite realistic, because there are so many of these cases in real life where people don’t face justice and people aren’t prosecuted for it.
‘So I think while that’s obviously quite a hard thing to come to terms with for Amy, it is sadly quite realistic. I never wanted him to get away with it but I think it’s one of those things that he’s now got to live with it, knowing what he’s done.’
And while not justifying Aaron’s actions, James was keen to remember that Aaron is essentially a good person who made a terrible judgement and mistake based on lack of awareness and education. Whether or not viewers agree with that is another matter.
‘He has been a good character and the whole time throughout this story he’s been telling himself that he’s not capable of doing something like this,’ he continued.
‘He would never do something intentionally, he’s always been a thoughtful caring person, so the realisation that he might have done this was really devastating for him.
‘And also the realisation that he is the one who’s put Amy through all of this is awful. I do think it came from a lack of education, a lack of awareness to stop and check in with her rather than malice but nevertheless it’s just as devastating.’
It brings the storyline to a conflicting end, with Amy now facing a journey of putting things back together without Aaron on the street.
When taking on the story, James was always aware that it would lead to his exit, but that doesn’t make it any less emotional to leave the role after a year.
‘It’s obviously very sad, it’s been a lot of fun and I’ve really, really loved my time there.
‘I met so many great people and I’ve made so many good friends for life. But I’m excited, I’m really, really excited to get on and go on and do other things.
‘There’s a couple of things I’ve got coming out but I can’t really say too much at the moment.’
The storyline now leaves a legacy behind it, having covered a serious issue in an almost unanimously plauded way.
James added: ‘People have said to me that they’ve looked at the situation differently.
‘I think that’s particularly something people of an older generation have said to me, that it has made them look at situations like this slightly differently, and I think that’s a really positive thing.
‘I do feel very proud, from the beginning I knew how much work I was going to put into it and I knew how much work everyone at Corrie has put into it.
‘As soon as we got started I knew it was going to be a really positive storyline in the long run so it’s something that I feel very proud of. It’s something that I hope the fans have enjoyed and more than anything have started to think about
‘Anyone who’s come up to me in public has been very positive about the story and congratulated me on the storyline.
‘I think overall the reaction to it has been quite mixed, it’s definitely done what we hoped it would and it sparked a conversation for sure.’
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