Coronation Street star reveals pain of filming acid attack scenes for hours on end

CORONATION Street star Ryan Prescott revealed the harsh reality of filming the horrifying acid attack scenes.

The ITV soap aired their epic conclusion to Daisy Midgley’s stalker storyline as Justin Rutherford threw a corrosive acid on Ryan Connor – who was protecting Daisy.

The shocking scenes in Monday’s episode saw Daisy drag Ryan into the upstairs shower and covered his face with a constant stream of cold water.

Ryan was screaming in agony while Daisy showered him and cut him out of his clothes.

He was then rushed to hospital once the emergency services arrived – leaving Daisy stunned and devastated.

Actor Ryan Prescott talked about filming the intense scenes after he was attacked.

He revealed: “If I’m honest, I completely underestimated the temperature of the water. It was so cold, so there was no acting being done! That was just me trying to breathe throughout the scenes.

“In the story, the water had to be as cold as possible, in order to numb the nerve endings and cool the acid.

“Water doesn’t do that much to neutralise any acid or alkaline, but it is the thing that you have to do in this situation – keep a constant stream of water. That will allow you to save some of the facial tissue.

“In real life, we couldn’t have any steam showing in the scene, so the water had to be as cold as it was in the story.”

So what’s next for Ryan?

Viewers will see Ryan come to terms with his life-changing injuries.

The actor added: “Ryan was starting to realise that his life was never going to be the same again. He’s trying to reach out and clutch onto whatever he can in his life – mainly his relationships within his life – that will allow him to deny this reality.

“One of those is his relationship with Alya. There’s also this new-found possibility with his new love interest Crystal.

“Ryan hoped to go and live the life he always wanted in Ibiza and continue with his DJing career.

“As Ryan sees these things slipping away, he naturally tries to reach out and grab hold of them in desperation.

“But there are stages of acceptance and denial. Slowly, bit by bit, he starts to understand the gravity of his wounds and what’s happened.”

Coronation Street has worked with the Katie Piper Foundation, a charity set up by the TV presenter to help burns survivors, after she endured an acid attack herself in 2008.

Actor Ryan has spoken to survivors from acid attacks about their stories and their struggle to rebuild relationships.

He hopes to portray his character’s story sensitively and realistically.

Ryan teased: “It’s going to change his life forever, because it changes the way he interacts with the world.

“The difficulty within the parameters of soap is to show some kind of reality of the longevity of what it means to be an acid attack survivor. The restoration and recovery period is so long – if not life-long.

“It’s psychotherapy and physiotherapy for many years, if not the rest of your life. There’s PTSD and trauma therapy.

“Your face is the first thing you see when you get up and look in the mirror. It’s your first means of communication and it’s the thing you most readily identify with yourself. So when that changes, everything changes.

“Despite the massive shift that the incident causes, Ryan is determined to make sure that it doesn’t define who he is.

“I think he wants to somehow find his way back to that infectious spirit that he once had, but it’s a long road.”