Coronation Street star hopes Sally fights for Yasmeen - but will it be enough?
"We were at a pinnacle moment in the story when we stopped," says Sally Dynevor.
Coronation Street star Sally Dynevor has revealed the coercive control storyline was at a crucial point when the soap stopped filming due to the UK lockdown, and hopes her alter ego Sally Metcalfe will continue to help get justice for abused wife Yasmeen Metcalfe (Shelley King) when production resumes.
Sal is starting to see the true colours of her shifty father-in-law Geoff Metcalfe (Ian Bartholomew) after discovering he paid escorts for sex, and hearing disconcerting details on how he treated his other half from Yasmeen's granddaughter Alya Nazir.
Geoff defends his use of prostitutes by explaining Yasmeen refused to sleep with him, and while Sally is disgusted her hubby Tim Metcalfe reckons it proves his dad's missus had a motive to try and kill him in the frenzied glass attack that put traumatised Mrs M in prison. However, the scales are starting to fall for Sally and next week she decides to visit Yasmeen…
"She doesn't tell Tim or Geoff she's going," says Dynevor. "Sally wants to get all the facts before she takes sides because it's detrimental to her marriage. Sally herself has been in prison for something she didn't do and after she talks to Yasmeen, she knows she is innocent.
"Eventually she asks Geoff to move out, but Tim is not happy and thinks they should be supporting his dad. At this point Sally admits she doesn't believe Geoff, but Tim is not listening to her."
Lines are drawn in the Metcalfe marriage, but while fans are desperate to see if the popular couple can survive, and if Sal can help exonerate her frenemy and expose Geoff's months of abuse, they may have to wait.
"Because of what happened I have no idea where they are going to go with this now," confesses Dynevor. "We were at such a pinnacle moment in the story when production completely stopped. I can't wait to get more scripts actually to find out how this affects Sally and Tim going forward. If we can play two or three hander scenes it's going to be interesting to see their take on it.
"And hopefully when we go back I'm hoping Sally helps Yasmeen and fights for her. They have a funny relationship - they really care about each other, despite their rows, they're both well-to-do and want to get on in the world, and very similar with their posh conservatories! I think it might make them even closer."
Corrie were set to run out of episodes filmed pre-lockdown by the end of June, but ITV confirmed production is resuming on 9th June ensuring there will be no need for a transmission break before new instalments air.
Safety measures and social distancing rules will be in place at the Manchester studios, in line with government guidelines, and changes to the working environment could necessitate extensive rewrites to scripts and storylines planned before the pandemic forced all UK soaps to hit the pause button in March.
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