Child sexual exploitation in Coronation Street.

Abstract

When 16-year-old Bethany Platt began dating a 34-year-old man her on-screen family expressed discomfort, but for viewers it was no more alarming than the soap opera’s other outlandish pairings. The story aired over multiple episodes during the first 6 months of 2017; however, the insidious onset of child sexual exploitation (CSE) has turned this into one of the most harrowing plotlines in UK soap opera Coronation Street ’s history. At the outset of this story, developed in consultation with survivors of CSE and the NSPCC, Bethany’s mother and her new partner expressed concern about the relationship but 34-year-old Nathan leveraged this dynamic to begin isolating Bethany. Over time he completed the process of alienating Bethany from her family, moving her into his flat, and dismissing her desire to contact them as ‘childish’. This pattern is common in …