Alison King: 'I've had tears in my eyes for weeks'

Coronation Street's Alison King has revealed her character's current on-screen trauma has left her 'drained' and 'exhausted'. The 38-year-old actress plays alcoholic Carla Connor, who is set to run over Rovers landlady Stella Price while drink driving and is then raped by her manipulative fiance Frank. Alison told the TV Times: "Things look very bleak for Carla in the aftermath and it's been one of the most mentally challenging storylines I've ever done. "I'm absolutely drained. I've had tears in my eyes for weeks and feel physically and mentally exhausted." But Alison revealed she likes taking time out from the difficult storyline to be with her 18-month-old daughter Daisy. She also said working with Andrew Lancel, who plays Frank, makes the scenes more bearable. Alison said: "He's a big softie in real life. I want to get that across because he has a big, horrible, heavy storyline and the last thing he needs is people thinking he's like his character. "Andrew's an amazing bloke. Like me he has a young child, his son Isaac is around the same age as Daisy, so he understands what it's like for me as a working mum. "He's very supportive and working with him is a really lovely experience."

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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.