Coronation Street star Sydney Martin has said that her character Betsy Swain will continue to struggle in the weeks ahead following the hostage situation last month.
The teenager was accidentally shot with a stray bullet which was fired by her mum Lisa (Vicky Myers) during an altercation with escaped felon Rob (Marc Baylis), who was holding Tracy (Kate Ford) and Lisa's partner Carla (Alison King) hostage at No.1.
Luckily for Betsy she came away from the incident with just an injured arm, but she remains traumatised by what happened and has struggled to forgive Lisa for rushing in to a dangerous situation to save Carla without thinking about her first.
"It was a tricky situation for her to wrap her head around, because initially she was thinking about who is to blame but at the forefront of her mind is that she just wants her mum to put her first and to think about her," explained Martin.
"Lisa's constantly work-focused and constantly putting herself in situations without thinking about the repercussions. So they're trying to navigate that relationship around that. Lisa went in to protect Carla, and Betsy loves and respects Carla, but at the end of the day she's Lisa's daughter, and I just think she wants her mum to remember that.
"She's paralysed in the arm, so she goes back to being a bit younger and her mum really mummies her, and I think Betsy really enjoys that, because she's getting that one-on-one time with her mum that I think she's definitely lacked. Whereas I think Carla sees it as Betsy needs to grow up a little bit! So I think it causes a bit of a strain in the dynamic between the three of them."
Before the hostage situation it looked as if a turning point had been reached in Betsy and Lisa's relationship, but Martin thinks they are now back at square one.
"I think it's this repetitive cycle of she feels as though her mum isn't listening – no matter how much she screams it in her face, they're just going round and round in circles," she continued, And I think we do see some explosive moments between the two of them, where she's just trying to communicate with her mum, but I don't think her mum always understands where it's coming from.
"Betsy's not acting up because she wants to get in trouble, she's acting up because she wants her attention, she wants to feel that she loves and cares for her. She doesn't blame her mum for the situation necessarily, but she blames her mum for not putting her first and not thinking about her."
Coronation Street continues Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 7am on ITVX and at 8pm on ITV1.
> Picture Spoilers: Next week on Coronation Street (Apr 21-25)
Neil Wilkes
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