Shelley King’s friends have started to question their own relationships after her "brutal" coercive control storyline kicked off on ‘Coronation Street’.
The cobbles favourite’s character Yasmeen Nazir has started to become controlled by partner Geoff Metcalfe (Ian Bartholomew) in certain scenes lately, and the 63-year-old star admits the hard-hitting plot has led to "so many" real-life couples analysing their own romances.
She said: "So many people, friends of mine, people I meet in the street, people who talk to me, have begun to question their own relationships.
"They’re not in a coercive relationship, but there is an element of control, because we all need approbation from our partners."
Shelley admits she and Ian, who she calls Barty, get on "so well" in real life, and has warned fans to expect the tough storyline to become even more "mentally brutal" for Yasmeen in the coming weeks.
Speaking on ‘This Morning’, she added: "I think Ian and I have a great responsibility to talk to people and to create a believable, and understandable, truth-based storyline. And that’s what we’re doing.
"We can’t be scared of being unpopular as actors or anything like that.
"Barty is the nicest man. We get on so well, we have the humour of a 14-year-old boy and we will not give it back.
"We have to trust each other, because this story is going to get darker and darker and darker. And truthfully darker based on real stories the scriptwriters have heard and that we have heard.
"If we didn’t trust each other we wouldn’t be telling the story in an adequate way.
"What you see will become brutal, and not physically brutal, but mentally brutally, which is even worse in a way."
Shelley King’s pals question relationships due to her Corrie control plot
