‘Coronation Street’ stars Shelley King and Ian Bartholomew "barely talked" on set for a day-and-a-half while filming their characters’ bloody brawl – to ensure they had full concentration on the intense scenes.
The pair have been playing out a hard-hitting coercive control plot for months, which has seen Geoff Metcalfe (Ian) psychologically abuse his wife Yasmeen Metcalfe (Shelley), but she will finally reach breaking point next week when she bottles him after he starves her and waves a knife in her direction.
When asked if the pair lightened the mood during filming or if it was important to stay in the moment, Shelley said: "Ian and I are very close, we are great friends and we understand each other.
"During the day and a half that we concentrated on the portrayal of that horror we had to keep in the moment, barely talking outside the scene.
"It was also a closed set. You have to contact so many things in yourself, when you have three minutes filmed over a day and half you have no recovery time and you can’t afford to joke and laugh.
"Every single person on set understood and were amazing and were concentrating on making those moments happen."
Yasmeen finally reaches breaking point after Geoff starves her for two-and-a-half days and discovers she is planning to leave him.
And Shelley admitted it was bizarre to shoot such an "intense period" and then have to suddenly stop learning lines due to the coronavirus pandemic.
She added: "It has been strange after such an intense period of filming to suddenly have no lines to learn."
The 64-year-old star – who was born in India – is in lockdown with her partner Trilby James, and the pair have been trying to help others who "need assistance".
She said: "Trilby is working with her students via Zoom and we are making sure we are in contact with family and friends here and abroad.
"I was working on this storyline and then suddenly with no warning I wasn’t but we are very lucky to be together, to get out for our one walk, we also have a balcony we can go out on.
"I am hearing awful things coming out of India and trying to get my head round technology has been a learning curve.
"But we’re taking it very seriously and trying to help people who need assistance."
Corrie’s Shelley King and Ian Bartholomew ‘barely talked’ to concentrate on intense scenes
