Coronation Street's Dylan Wilson (Liam McCheyne) and Betsy Swain (Sydney Martin) are at the center of a groundbreaking storyline involving non-fatal strangulation, which has left Betsy with a debilitating stroke affecting her speech. The actor has now spoken about the plot and his hopes for the couple's future.
Initial reaction to the storyline
Liam McCheyne revealed that he and co-star Sydney Martin were briefed separately about the plot. 'We actually got called in separately for a storyline chat. Initially, I just thought, Oh great, something is coming up, let's see what they have planned. Then I had a meeting with the producer, Kate Brooks. I walked out thinking, Okay, that is completely not what I expected! Then we cracked straight on with it.'
He described a mix of excitement and nerves: 'It was definitely a mixture of excitement to portray such an important storyline and of course nerves. Because Sydney and I work together quite a lot, there wasn't any awkwardness between us, which was a massive help. We both looked at it and thought, Right, let's really get our teeth stuck into this. But given the weight of the subject, those nerves were definitely there.'
Dylan's innocence
McCheyne emphasized that Dylan is not a villain, noting his character's innocence and lack of malice. 'Because there was such an innocence to Dylan in this scenario, we didn't want to change who he is at his core. There was absolutely no malice or intent to hurt Betsy – in fact, hurting her is his absolute biggest fear. Because he still has that good moral compass, we didn't need to prep by altering his character. Instead, we just went script-to-script to see how it would naturally unfold.'
However, Betsy's mother, Lisa Connor-Swain (Vicky Myers), blames Dylan and reports him to the police, while Dylan's father, Sean Tully (Antony Cotton), goes into denial, even suggesting Betsy slept with his friend Brody Michaelis (Ryan Mulvey) to explain the injury.
Dylan's denial and the future
McCheyne explained Dylan's initial denial: 'The heartbreak is that Dylan even visits Betsy in the hospital at first without realising that he was the one who caused her stroke. When his world finally comes crumbling down and he realises what happened, he doesn't want to accept it. His dad, Sean, desperately tries to protect him too, convincing him it must have been someone else. Dylan almost allows himself to be manipulated by his dad's denial just to cope, before everything completely spirals out of control.'
On whether Betsy and Dylan can recover as a couple, McCheyne said: 'I would really like to think so. Watching two young people face something this catastrophic, go through the wobbles and hopefully come out on the other side together would be really powerful. As an actor, portraying that level of struggle and finding a way back around is incredibly rewarding.'
