Yahoo News Corrie reveals big spoilers for Carla's special episode
Coronation Street has revealed the full details of Carla Connor's special mental health episode for the first time.
The show will be delving deeper into Carla's crisis as part of its dramatic 9pm week.
Corrie has now confirmed that the show's episode on Friday, May 31 will focus entirely on Carla's storyline, as her recent troubles come to a head and she suffers a severe psychotic episode.
After not taking her medication, Carla becomes confused when she sees a woman in a red coat. She believes that it must be Hayley Cropper, who passed away in 2014.
Carla follows the woman onto the Victoria Street fire escape and starts to hallucinate, convinced that she is talking to Hayley, Rana Habeeb and Aidan Connor.
Elements of the episode will be shown from Carla's point of view, while her loved ones will also be seen racing to rescue her. Show bosses aren't yet officially confirming how we'll see the dead characters feature in the episode, leaving us to wonder whether ex-cast members will be making an appearance.
Corrie's team have been working closely with mental health charity Mind to ensure an accurate portrayal of Carla's illness.
Alison King, who plays Carla, revealed: "I met a beautiful lady through Mind. She came to meet with me at the studios.
"When I talked to her, I asked so many questions. She suffers from what Carla is suffering and she told me that during those moments of extreme psychosis, you are never not yourself but you are just the most terrified version of yourself.
"You are locked in there – when you are spiking in these psychotic episodes, there is no way out. You are trapped in there and wherever you are or whoever you are with, it is terrifying but you need to be free to go through it and this is what I am trying to portray.
"It meant all the difference to meet someone who has gone through this. With soaps there are different writers for each episode and they can have slightly different ideas, but the team from Mind were across all the scripts.
"For me it was important to have the through line to hold on to and get that from her and keep it real. She was able to help me with how Carla would be speaking, her physicality, her need for isolation and desire to hide away. It is important for people to see how it is affecting her."
Julia Lamb, who runs Mind's Media Advisory Service, added: "It's refreshing to see Coronation Street explore how traumatic events can lead to psychosis, one of a number of mental health problems which are frequently misunderstood and misrepresented.
"Carla is a well-established, feisty character and her story shows how incredibly vulnerable people experiencing psychosis can be.
"When we worked with Coronation Street to develop her story, it was particularly important not to give Carla generic symptoms but to show it affects her individual character. For example, not looking after her appearance or even her diet the way she usually would.
“As well as providing feedback on each script, we also worked with Kerry, who met with actress Ali King to talk through how she felt and behaved when she experienced psychosis after a trauma. The result is a realistic storyline and a fantastic performance from Ali too."
Coronation Street airs these scenes on Friday, May 31 at 9pm on ITV.
We would encourage anyone who identifies with the topics raised in this article to reach out. Organisations who can offer support include Samaritans on 116 123 (www.samaritans.org) or Mind on 0300 123 3393 (www.mind.org.uk). Readers in the US are encouraged to visit mentalhealth.gov or the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
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