Coronation Street star Lucy Fallon has revealed her 'jaw hit the floor' when she learned her character Bethany Platt would become pregnant by Kit Green (Jacob Roberts), a twist that could destroy her relationship with her mum Sarah.
Bethany, who is pregnant by her imprisoned mum's ex-fiance, made the decision to sleep with Kit amid mounting drama. Her mum was awaiting trial for the murder of Theo Silverton (James Cartwright), while Bethany was dealing with the impact on her younger brother Harry (Joshua Leavy) and Kit's devastation at Sarah calling time on their relationship for the sake of his career.
Lucy Fallon's reaction to the pregnancy twist
'I don't actually know what she was thinking,' Lucy Fallon admits in regard to her alter-ego's course of action. 'I think they both were in quite a bad place at the time, they were obviously in the flat together, they were trying to deal with a lot of stuff together and I think it was just one of those things that happened.'
'It just happened. It was a one night mistake, I don't think she has any feelings for him at all in that way.'
On the baby bombshell, Lucy admitted she was shocked to learn of the direction the story would take: 'When our producer, Kate [Brooks] was telling me what was happening and then she said that she ends up being pregnant, my jaw was on the floor.'
'I think it's so good in the sense that now they have got to face the consequences of what they've done and they can't just brush it under the carpet in the way that they wanted to. It's adding a whole other level of drama for the audience.'
Bethany's reaction and the impact on her relationship
Lucy had previously teased that viewers might not be happy with Bethany and her actions going forward, something she admits she's still pretty worried about: 'I think they're going to be annoyed at her and think that she's just really stupid, which she is for what she's done. But there was two people involved here so I'm hoping she doesn't get all the blame.'
So what's Bethany's initial reaction to the news that she's carrying Kit's baby? 'She's obviously in shock,' Lucy mused. 'I think she kind of had a little idea that she potentially was pregnant but when it's confirmed that she's pregnant I think she's shocked and devastated because it's not a situation that she wants to be in.'
'Obviously, she's got to make a decision whether she goes ahead with it or whether she gets a termination and that's quite traumatic in itself, so she's left with a big decision now.'
Naturally, she won't be turning to her mum for help: 'Coming clean is not an option, especially if she wants to keep a relationship with her mum because her mum would have the right to never speak to either of them again. I mean the whole family would, it's not even just Sarah. So she's stuck in an impossible position right now.'
Bethany's relationship with Ryan Connor under strain
Adding to the stress is Bethany's fledgling relationship with Ryan Connor (Ryan Prescott), a union that'll undoubtedly come under strain from her pregnancy.
'I think she genuinely really likes him and he genuinely really likes her too,' Lucy said of the bond. 'They've got a bit of shared history as well from when they were together before but obviously this is going to throw a massive spanner in the works.'
'If she chooses to go through with the termination that will make things easier for their relationship, but if she chooses to keep the baby, that's going to complicate the whole situation because is Ryan going to want to be with her if she's going to be having someone else's baby when they're so early on in their relationship?'
Will Bethany fight for their burgeoning love? 'I think she will fight for him in a sense, but you can't really try to convince someone to stay with you if you're having a baby that's not theirs, especially when you so early on in a relationship.'
