Coronation Street's Carla in rape storyline?

Coronation Street's Carla in rape storyline?
Coronation Street's Carla in rape storyline? (Image credit: PA Archive/PA Photos)

Coronation Street's Frank Foster is set to rape his fiancee Carla Connor after she calls off their wedding. The difficult storyline will reportedlyscreen in September, despite Coronation Street boss Phil Collinson's comments earlier this week that the soap had been focusing too much on crime and needed to change direction, the Sun reports. Phil said: "We've been at the police station and the court a little bit too much." Businessman Frank, played by Andrew Lancel, has already attempted to rape Carla's ex-sister-in-law Maria Connor (Samia Smith), and he turns on his fiancee, played by Alison King, after she confesses her love for Peter Barlow. The actual rape will not be shown as the ITV show screens before the watershed, but Carla will be shown cowering with a torn skirt and bruised wrists as sadistic Frank tries to convince her the rape was her fault, it's been reported. Maria will then support her friend as she reports the incident to the police, and is shown going to hospital to be tested for sexually transmitted infections, while Frank is ordered to give a DNA sample to the police. Coronation Street staff and Alison have been working closely with rape support groups to ensure the storyline is portrayed as realistically as possible. It will also result in further violence when Peter learns what has happened and attacks Frank, leading to his own arrest.

Patrick McLennan

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.