Coronation Street’s David (played by Jack P. Shepherd) was left shaken and horrified when he woke up in Josh’s (Ryan Clayton) bed in last night’s instalment after he was sexually assaulted.
The hairdresser could be seen taking a shower and throwing away his clothing before later throwing up in the garden when Josh admitted to spiking his drink.
Today, Sam who was a victim of male sexual assault spoke to Lorraine Kelly on her ITV chat show about the importance of the storyline.
Revealing why he was helping people to speak about their experiences, he noted: “I wanted to turn this negative experience into something positive.”
Hitting back at criticism the soap has received over the “dark” and “uncomfortable” scenes, he added: “It perfectly sums up why we should show it.
“People aren’t aware of this and a big soap opera like Coronation Street, it is engaging with people we [Survivors Manchester] can’t reach with other methods.”
Sam noted that there had been a 200 per cent increase in calls from male rape victims to charities like Survivors Manchester.
“It shows that people out there have been silent for so long,” Sam commented.
“Yeah people might find it uncomfortable to watch but think about all those that it is helping.”
Sam went on to add that after finding his voice following his attack he wanted to help other to find theirs and speak out about what had happened to them.
It comes after Coronation Street boss Kate Oates defended the storyline on This Morning on Monday.
Host Phillip Schofield quizzed: “Was David’s sexual assault a step too far?”
“I don’t think so and seemingly it is in a different category,” Kate replied. “In 2001 Torah was raped and in 2011 Carla was raped.”
Holly Willoughby went on to note: “The BBC I think almost had a similar storyline about five years ago in EastEnders and then decided it was too much for pre-watershed so they didn’t do it so I think yours is the first one that has taken a step to do it.”
“Hollyoaks has done a storyline,” Kate corrected. “At Coronation Street, we have a different kind of reach, we have a different kind of viewer but yeah.”
Coronation Street continues Wednesday on ITV at 7.30pm while Lorraine airs weekdays on ITV at 8.30am.
