Bethany's Diet Pill Danger
Bethany's bully pushes her to do something drastic. We asked Lucy Fallon if anyone can help Bethany in her hour of need?
Why has Bethany become concerned about her weight?
It’s because of the bullies, she’s receiving texts from several girls at her school saying that she’s fat, so it’s made her really self-conscious and this is what’s made her determined to lose weight.
How does Bethany feel when the garden swing collapses with her in it?
She feels horrible, especially because Craig takes a picture of her while she’s on the swing when it breaks, he puts it on a social media website so everybody sees it, so Bethany is absolutely mortified because she already feels really self conscious anyway because of the bullying, so that just makes it worse and heightens it.
Why has she ordered the diet pills? And how much does she know about them?
I don’t think she really knows a lot about them, she knows that they are illegal and that she shouldn’t be taking them, and because she’s not eating either, she knows that it’s really not good for her.
I think she ordered them just to sort of make the process faster and lose the weight quicker, because she’s going to the gym quite a lot, so I think she just thinks that it’ll really help her to shed weight quickly.
Why is she being so secretive about the pills?
It’s because she knows how bad they are, so she doesn’t want her mum to find out because of everything that she’s gone through already. Aswell as everything the whole family is going through with Kylie’s death, she thinks that if they know she’s taking diet pills they’ll think there’s something really wrong with her, so she wants to keep it to herself.
Is she worried after she passes out at the gym?
Yes, I think it does worry her a little bit because she obviously knows that she’s not eating and she’s taking these pills, on top of really pushing herself at the gym, so it’s obvious to her that something is wrong. But I don’t think it worries her enough for her to want to stop doing it, because she’s quite young, she’s so fixated on the fact that she’s over weight, so it doesn’t worry her too much.
How does she feel when Gary finds the pills?
She’s going to be really worried that Gary’s found the pills because she doesn’t want him to tell anybody. She doesn’t want him to tell her mum or any of her family, so that they don’t worry.
What is she thinking when Gary suggests they report the bullies to the school?
She doesn’t want to do that at all, because she doesn’t want to make it worse, she doesn’t want to report the bullies and then for Lauren to keep bullying her because of it, she thinks it’s just going to make it even worse, so she really tries to persuade him not to do that, but he does it anyway.
Does she think by losing the weight that the bullying will stop?
Well at first, it wasn’t really about her weight, it was because she was new at the school and she didn’t really have any friends. They were bullying her for different reasons and then they started to fixate on her weight. I don’t think she thinks that the bullying will stop, but she will feel better about herself if she doesn’t feel like she’s fat.
Why is she so keen to keep the bullying hidden from Sarah?
Well, Sarah’s just come out of hospital and if she tells her that she’s still getting bullied and that it’s got even worse, that it’s got physical,she’s worried her mum will just lose the plot again and end up back in hospital, so she just wants to keep it from her while her mum get’s better.
I hope that girls watching realise that just because someone bullies you about something, doesn’t make it true.
What are you hoping that teenage girl viewers will take from Bethany’s body issues?
I hope that girls watching realise that just because someone bullies you about something, doesn’t make it true, I know that really I’m not overweight, and I hope that they see that bullies just say cruel things to bait people and to be nasty.
They’ll probably realise that what Bethany is doing is stupid, and it will show them how serious taking diet pills and not eating can be.
Have you had many fans get in touch with you about the bullying story?
Yes, I’ve had quite a lot of tweets about it, people telling me they have been in similar situations and that the storyline has helped them want to tell somebody so that’s really nice to hear. And there was a girl who came into work yesterday to look around the set and she was telling me about how she had been bullied in the past and that watching the storyline develop made her upset, but she was glad that we’re highlighting just how bad bullying can be, and luckily she told her parents what was happening and she doesn’t get bullied anymore.
Are you glad to see Bethany stand up for herself and punch Lauren?
Yes, definitely. And I think that Lauren deserves it,although it doesn’t really make things better for her, in fact if anything it makes it worse.
Do you think that Bethany regrets doing it?
Yes, as soon as she does it she regrets it, but it was just her instinct, it was her initial reaction to just punch her, and then as soon as she did it she felt so guilty and she was really worried about what the consequences would be because of that.
Do you get on well with Shannon who plays Lauren?
Yes, I get on really well with her. She’s really lovely and because she’s the same age as me as well, we’ve got quite a lot in common, and she’s really easy to get on with.
What about the rest of the cast?
I am really good friends with Colson, if we are free in between scenes we will often go for a drive somewhere and get some food, he’s like my brother.