Over the last few weeks, stalker Justin has been pushing Daisy to breaking point - sending her flowers, bombarding her with messages, turning up at the wedding fair and even getting a job on the street where Daisy lives.
The Coronation Street Blog and other media were invited to a virtual press event with Charlotte Jordan to discuss how Justin's stalking is taking a toll on Daisy's wellbeing, as well as hinting at how far Justin could go.
"[Daisy] is full steam ahead on planning her wedding, which means full steam ahead on the influencing front," says Charlotte. "Her wedding is her baby. She's obviously putting all her energy into planning this spectacle of a wedding. They are in a really good place. The wedding for her, it's a light at the end of the tunnel."
With Justin's harassment confined to her phone, Daisy believed she could handle it. But when he begins inserting himself into her personal life, Daisy fears this problem is becoming more sinister.
"Justin is harassing her. He is cyber harassing her, and then as soon as it steps over into the wedding fair, that sort of is when Daisy clocks that this guy isn't going to go away. She is out of her depth, really. She doesn't know how to deal with it.
"That episode, when [Justin] starts saying, 'I'm your fiance, and we're going to get married,' that's when it clicks for her that this guy is totally delusional. This is not just like a fan or someone who fancies her from online.
"I've done some research, and we now know that he's what's known as an intimacy seeking stalker," Charlotte explained. "He fully believes that they're in a relationship, and he fully believes that they're in love. She's just really taken aback by it because she doesn't know how he could possibly think that. But he is not a reasonable person. So this is when she starts to get extremely scared."
Throughout recent weeks, we have seen Daisy's confidence being chipped away, and Charlotte told us about the impact that this stress is having on Daisy's wellbeing.
"Daisy is a feisty, confident character. She's got a gob on her, so she's not afraid to tell people to do one if she feels she needs to, but what you see is this guy just totally take her power from her. You can't control how other people behave, and you can't control how other people interpret things, so she feels totally powerless.
"And then you will slowly see Justin eradicate and decimate all the things that make her Daisy, which is just really sad. Luckily, she has people around her that love her and are going to support her through it, but no-one can really understand what she is going through. He is going to slowly but surely destroy everything that makes her her, really."
As well affecting her own wellbeing, the situation also begins to affect Daisy's relationship with Daniel.
"When you are going through a problem, and you feel totally powerless, and you can't say what you want to the person causing you this grief because it's not getting through, she will start taking it out on Daniel because that is the only thing she can do - the people around you get the brunt of it.
"As much as he is supporting her, tensions get really high, and she starts to snap, and she starts to get really fragile, and unfortunately, he is the one that has got to learn how to deal with that."
As this nightmare unfolds, the people closest to Daisy suggest that she takes a break from social media - something that Charlotte feels strongly Daisy should not have to do.
She said: "Victim-blaming mentality is so dangerous and so damaging. We've got this whole episodic at the minute where violent crimes against women, for some reason, it's the woman's responsibility to stop everything, and the onus is always on the woman to change her behaviour and change the things she's doing, and that is just so, so wrong.
"The responsibility should not be on the woman to not post a picture of herself where she feels cute, it should be in educating men on what a healthy relationship is and what consent is."
After weeks of harassment, Daisy finally decides to tell the police what's been going on.
"It takes her a while to go to the police, and actually, because women are taught, 'It's flattering, he's just being nice, he only sent you some flowers.' When you have these incidents separately, they may not seem like a massive deal. But when you connect them all and see how long it's been going on for, that is when it is a pattern of behaviour, and that is when it is dangerous. That is when you do need to go and tell the authorities because harassment is illegal.
"It's Daniel that sort of confirms or validates her fears, I suppose, and makes her feel like it's OK to go to the police and that she should get some help because she shouldn't have to put up with this.
"She is always on edge. She is looking over her shoulder constantly. She never knows where he's going to appear because he is totally delusional and believes they're in this loving relationship, and that Daniel is somehow an obstacle for them. She doesn't know how far that delusion is going to go, and she doesn't know how dangerous that will then make him in the long run. It's just a really scary situation for her to be in."
In upcoming episodes, we see Daisy's stress levels increase significantly as she desperately tries to maintain her normal life.
"She's got Daniel and Christina going, 'Maybe come off social media.' She's been fighting it because she knows that's not fair. She has been really trying to keep a hold of her identity and the things she wants, but this is where she finally relents.
"Daniel takes over her social media, so she doesn't have to see these constant messages. And then Daniel does something which isn't quite right, and it sort of sets her off, and it makes her upset because she has been working so hard to give them this wonderful wedding, and Daniel sort of mucks up her social media.
"That sends her over the edge. Her nerves are shredded because of Justin, Daniel upsets her social media which also just sends her into this kind of chaotic spin. She feels like no-one is understanding her, the police aren't helping her, so her levels are already right up there.
"She storms off to get some air, and then she sees Justin with this bouquet of flowers which is very triggering to her because that is how this whole thing began. She just sees red because she feels so isolated, and she just thinks, 'Well, I'll just take this into my own hands and actually tell this guy to sod off for good,' and it escalates very quickly."
Seeing Justin with the flowers is the final straw for Daisy, and seeing red, she punches him.
"She's not a violent person. Daisy is cutting with her words, she's not cutting physically. It's not her just lashing out - it's self-defence. Me and Andrew [Still] were very particular on this. This is the first time that Justin has touched Daisy, and that is crossing yet another line for her. So even though she feels powerless, she can control who touches her in-person, so she sees red, and she just lunges for him because that is the only thing she feels she has got any shred of control over."
Later on, PC Jess approaches Daisy and invites her to the station because Justin has accused her of assault, leaving Daisy shocked.
"This is sort of the main thing that makes her feel even more isolated and even more alone because she has been the police, I think, two or three times by now. This is the first time Justin has called them about her and suddenly, jump into action, even though they know the history, and they know what's been going on. She feels totally isolated and helpless.
"I think it was really important to do this storyline. It's very clever to do it with a character like Daisy because she is a divisive character - you either love her or hate her. And all the things that make her Daisy - she's extra, she's flamboyant, she's camp, she's big, and you will slowly see that she starts to crumble and get smaller and smaller. I don't think she will ever be the same again."
If you would like to seek advise or further information, you can contact the National Stalking Helpline on 08088020300, or through the Suzy Lamplugh website at www.suzylamplugh.org.
Sophie Williams
Find me on Twitter @sophie_writer1.
1 comment:
Why has Coronation Street descended into a social ionstruction program for teenagers ?
Bring back real characters who don't have to carry all this 'issue of the week' baggage.
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