CORONATION Street’s Sally Carman had to film Seb Franklin’s dramatic courtroom murder trial on her own after contracting Covid-19.
Shocked viewers have just seen Kelly Neelan convicted of Seb’s murder, while the real killer, smirking thug Corey Brent walked free after being found not guilty.
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But the climactic courtroom episodes were filmed while Sally was ill. Street bosses hastily re-wrote the scripts so that Sally could film her scenes later for them to add in.
The actress, who plays grieving mum Abi Franklin, said: “It was very different for me because I came down with Covid.
“I was off for a month because I got it pretty bad, so I wasn’t in court and I ended up filming all my bits in two days separately.
“I was read the lines by the Assistant Director and there was no-one else on the courtroom set with me apart from Mike Le Vell (Kevin Webster).
“It was very strange and I still wasn’t 100 per cent, so it all went like a bit of a dream, but watching it back I’m absolutely blown away how brilliantly it all fits together.”
Distraught Abi saw Corey (Max Evans) cleared of the murder of her son Seb (Harry Visinoni). The evil thug even winked at her as he left court to go and celebrate his freedom with a curry.
Meanwhile petrified Kelly (Millie Gibson) was found guilty, despite being the one who tried to pull Corey away.
Corey brutally kicked Seb, while his friends attacked Seb’s girlfriend Nina Lucas (Mollie Gallagher). The pair were set on in a vicious hate crime, because of Nina’s Goth appearance.
Sally said: “Corrie are really good at highlighting things that people have to deal with in real life and hate crime is huge, so to have a storyline about such a really important cause is an added responsibility, but a real privilege.”
Sally, 40, also defended the violent flashback scenes which have revealed to viewers exactly how the attacks happened.
She said: “Corrie went out on a limb a little bit, because it was quite graphic and violent, but it was necessary, because this is what happens.”
Sally, who is engaged to her cobbles co-star Joe Duttine, who plays cab boss Tim Metcalfe, warned that the storyline is far from finished, with former drug addict Abi now determined to avenge her son’s murder.
She said: “Abi was daring to believe that justice could be done and that’s why she did everything by the book. But of course it isn’t and she can’t let that go.
“She has a cut-off point, which not only has been reached, but crossed. She’s not going to let this drop and it’s life-changing. She’s being driven by a force that she can’t stop and she doesn’t care what happens to her.
“The murder of Seb is too much for her and she’s got it in her heart that she needs to get justice for him some way or another.
“Watching the scenes in court with Corey’s half-bored, menacing looks just makes me want to kill him – and that’s me!”
Next week viewers will see devastated Abi walk out on her fiance, garage boss Kevin Webster.
Sally explained: “Whatever she does she knows she can’t involve Kevin and his son Jack.
“She loves the bones of the pair of them, which is the reason she has to leave them, because she needs to have a think about how she can solve the injustice of what has happened.”
In a shock move, Abi tracks down her ex – Seb’s father Tez, played by Stephen Lord, best-known as EastEnders Jase Dyer and for playing Dominic Meak in Shameless.
Sally hinted that things will come to a spectacular head next month in Super Soap Week, which typically sees ITV soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale feature a week of explosive episodes, often involving jaw-dropping stunts and seeing characters killed off.
She said: “Abi returns and it is outrageous and massive, but such good fun to film. There are stunts galore. It’s one of those storylines that as an actor you just go: ‘come on, let’s ‘ave it!’
“Abi has got a really good heart, but she’s emotionally immature and doesn’t think things through. There’s nothing that she’s not capable of doing, so watch out.”
