Coronation Street's stalking storyline is about to reach a horrifying peak with Justin Rutherford's acid attack attempt on Daisy Midgeley's wedding day.
While Justin's chilling actions in Monday 27 March's episode will stun viewers of the ITV1 soap, Andrew Still who plays the troubled character is as shocked as anyone by the turn the plot has taken.
"I was pretty shocked, I had no idea it was going to go that far and to be honest I was a little bit intimidated because it’s such an awful crime and you really want to do it justice and give it the seriousness it deserves," he shared.
"I feel like as long as I did my research and really gave it everything then hopefully it would resonate with the audience."
The acid attack scenes will certainly have an impact, as Justin arrives in the Rovers intent on destroying Daisy's (Charlotte Jordan) life by burning her with a glass of acid he intends to throw over her.
Ryan Connor (Ryan Prescott) is also on the scene as he waits with Daisy in the pub for the wedding car to arrive and sees the nightmare unfold.
Soap fans have seen Justin's behaviour become increasingly sinister as he struggles to deal with the grief of his mum's death and becomes deluded that he is in a relationship with Daisy.
Andrew explained that his character would still somehow manage to justify his actions in his own head even after the disturbing attack.
"In his warped thinking he views himself as the victim," he said.
"He’s starting to think of ways to hurt Daisy in the way that she hurt him. Afterwards, I think he’s going to make all sorts of excuses in his head to justify why he did this, but I think this is a total act of hate, there’s no love in this."
An incredible amount of work went into the acid attack scenes to make sure they had the gravity required, with Corrie's writers and cast working alongside acid attack charities ASTI and The Katie Piper Foundation.
Speaking about filming the scenes, Andrew admitted: "They weren’t very fun. They were pretty grim. Everyone on set was really brilliant and gave it the respect that a scene like that needs.
"It felt really disgusting to give those lines and to go through that action. It’s an incredibly hateful, nasty thing to do and if you’re going to play it truthfully you have to go through those emotions so it was horrible, but hopefully that translates on screen."
Of course, Andrew has had to try to find a way to understand Justin's attack so that he can play the role realistically.
He said: “I find Justin’s actions disgusting and disturbing, but I like to play that honestly, not just the bad guy. You have to try to find the character’s point of view.
“Nobody’s the bad guy of their story, so finding that journey is the hardest but also the most rewarding part of doing what you do.”
Andrew shared that playing on his Nintendo Switch was his favourite way to wind down from an emotionally draining day of filming, and added that his friends and family have been surprised by seeing him play such a different person to himself so convincingly.
“They all think I’m super creepy which is a massive shock to them because obviously I’m not that creepy in real life,” he said.
The actor was planning on watching the acid attack episode with his partner for support, saying: “She’s an actor as well so we usually watch our stuff together and chat about it.”
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