Louisa Clein has found it "intense" filming her ‘Emmerdale’ grooming storyline.
The soap star’s alter-ego Maya Stepney has been grooming schoolboy Jacob Gallagher (Joe-Warren Plant) for weeks, and their relationship will be exposed in a special week of episodes dubbed ‘Big Night Out’, which stars on Monday (22.04.19) and will affect a number of villagers.
Opening up on the storyline, Louisa told RadioTimes.com: "It’s been intense. The last few weeks of build-up has been extraordinary. I have been unbelievably lucky in working with Amy [Walsh (Tracy Metcalfe)], Roxy [Shahidi (Leyla Harding)] and Fiona [Wade (Priya Sharma)] on this part.
"We’ve all really looked out for each other as we’ve been filming long and late into the night and there’s been quite a lot of physical stuff I’ve never had to do before. It’s been an enormous challenge and has not been easy."
Tracy, Priya and Leyla will catch the teacher with Jacob at a night club, and there will be huge ramifications.
Asked if Maya is prepared for the fallout, Louisa added: "I don’t think so. She naively believed they could wait for Jacob to finish school, go public as a couple and say nothing happened whilst Maya was his teacher.
"They would live happily ever after and she thought that could work. Suddenly the reality triggers pure fear, panic and self-defence."
But there will be "no going back" for Maya after the upcoming twist.
Louisa said: "Being caught in this way means there is no going back – but it’s how she deals with that. Is she going to run away and hide? Is she going to confront it and try and defend herself? Will she get that opportunity?"
While next week’s episodes will focus on the club, there will be flashback scenes filling in the blanks for viewers which will air from May 6.
Louisa Clein says Emmerdale grooming storyline has been ‘intense’
