These are the dramatic moments when Coronation Street’s Yasmeen Metcalf watches in horror as her abusive husband collapses with a neck wound after she lashes out at him in a moment of terror.
Yasmeen, played by Shelley King, is backed into a corner by bullying Geoff and feeling ‘like a wounded animal’ she grabs a wine bottle and hits him, slashing his neck with the broken glass.
As she realises what she has done she stares helplessly at her husband lying on the floor with blood pouring from his wound. Terrified and shaking Yasmeen dials 999 and tells the operator “I’ve just killed my husband.”
Has she killed him? Will anyone believe she acted in self defence after months of abuse?
Millions of viewers have seen Yasmeen Metcalfe’s coercive control abuse storyline unfolding on screen. Geoff has isolated her from her friends and family, stolen money from her, chipped away at her confidence, belittling her, locking her in a magicians box and even forcing her to eat her own pet chicken. He also set up cctv surveillance cameras in the house without her knowledge
In recent scenes Yasmeen discovered that Geoff had been using an escort agency and she went to the police to access information about his background under Clare’s Law.
In next week’s episodes Geoff continues to abuse Yasmeen depriving her of food after she discovers she has a sexually transmitted disease and he lays the blame at her door. When they are invited on a night out by Sally and Tim he forces Yasmeen to wear a dress he bought for an escort.
Back at home he locks a distraught and upset Yasmeen in the house, before returning and goading her by eating food in front of her. Shelley King says “He has a bottle of wine on the table and food, he doesn't offer her anything. All she wants is to eat something and hug him. She wants him to forgive her. She is not thinking coherently, she hasn’t eaten for two and a half days properly. What she does is react like a wounded cornered animal she just wants it all to stop, she defends herself she doesn't attack him but it is him who ends up bleeding on the kitchen floor.”
Shelley added that these were the hardest scenes she has had to film during this storyline: “There have been many very difficult scenes throughout this storyline but just the technical aspect of a scene like this means that something you see that just plays out for three minutes might take the whole day to film. During that time you have to concentrate and stay in the moment. Ian and I are very close, we are great friends and we understand each other. During the day and a half that we concentrated on the portrayal of that horror we had to keep in the moment, barely talking outside the scene. It was also a closed set. You have to contact so many things in yourself, when you have three minutes filmed over a day and half you have no recovery time and you can't afford to joke and laugh. Every single person on set understood and were amazing and were concentrating on making those moments happen.”
The episode which airs on May 1st will leave viewers wondering if Geoff’s reign of terror is finally over, but will Yasmeen pay the price for lashing out at her abuser?
If you or someone you know is at risk from domestic abuse please go to: www.womensaid.org.uk
__
Glenda Young
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor
Fancy writing a guest blog post for us? All details here!
Follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook
All original work on Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License
Nooooo....don't send Yaz to jail!! She's not the new Weatherfield One...lets instead watch her recovery, maybe we'll see Tim remember something from his childhood..maybe his mum will come back and stand in court for Yaz..Let the good guy win for once, and bring fierce, vibrant,strong,Yasmeen back...
ReplyDeleteYasmeen has had visits from the police under Clare's law and witnesses who saw her crying. I expect Geoff's counsel will ask: 'Why didn't you just walk away?' (as we have read in real-life cases) and this is what the storyline has been about. It will depend who Yasmeen gets to represent her. She will need a legal team experienced in these cases.
ReplyDeleteI really hoped this wouldn't happen. I know it's the "high drama" that the script writers seem to think we want but I would have liked to see her eventually get help for herself from the police and family. We are often told about how they are tackling issues and to show someone getting help and getting the abuser convicted would have been a much more responsible way to portray this imo.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing as soon as they find his laptop with the hidden camera footage, Yasmeen will be exonerated? But I'm guessing ages and ages will go by until they find them. Are they like the size of a pinhead? How have they not been found yet with all that cleaning?
ReplyDeleteI'm with you Louby. I'd have loved to have seen Yasmeen get the courage to stand up to him and throw him out then slowly rebuild her life with her friends and family. This is melodramatic and over the top - and has been done on other shows already.
ReplyDeleteRecently we saw Michelle frame Robert for Vicky's 'murder' and get away with it simply because Robert cheated and lied to them both now if Yasmeen who has been abused by Geoff for months and is found guilty of 'murder' when it was self defense,I think Corrie has lost it's credibility.
ReplyDeleteI mean what sort of message is the soap sending by letting two women,Michelle and Vicky get away with their crimes because a man lied to them and have Yasmeen in jail for defending herself against her abusive husband?
I don't think he's going to die, he'll survive so everything can be turned around on her so he can torture her even further in court. He'll also likely have treated his STD while she'll still have it, which will maker her out to be a cheating wife who wanted to "get rid of him".
ReplyDeleteSTD - So Tired, disillusioned
ReplyDelete