Coronation Street star Elle Mulvaney shocked by ‘extreme and surreal’ new Amy Barlow story

Amy Barlow (Elle Mulvaney) has been drawn into sinister cult The Institute in Coronation Street, after Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson) recruited her to join.

Leanne was taken in by charming Rowan Cunliffe (Emrhys Cooper) earlier this year, and has been enamoured by The Institute ever since.

In upcoming scenes, Leanne insists that Amy is ready to undergo a ‘malware’ session, but the ordeal isn’t at all what Amy expects.

‘I was shocked when I first saw the script, I hadn’t anticipated it would be that extreme,’ actress Elle Mulvaney admitted.

‘When she gets there, she has no idea what this is going to entail. She’s just told that it’s a malware session. That is what they call it. So she doesn’t know what that means.

‘And anytime that she’s tried to ask somebody, ‘What is a malware session?’, no one’s given her a response because they don’t want to tell her, because if they told her, she wouldn’t do it.’

As Amy stands blindfolded in the middle of the circle, she is horrified as the other members bombard her with insults. Though Leanne assures her that it will all be worth it in the end, Amy can’t take anymore and rushes out.

Speaking about filming the scenes, Elle revealed that it was unlike anything she’d done before.

‘I’ve never filmed anything like it. It was a really surreal experience, because I didn’t wear the blindfold until we were actually going for the take, because I wanted to feel that sense of discomfort. I feel like when you do it too often, you can almost get comfortable, and it takes away that initial feeling.

‘So we did the rehearsals as normal, and even the rehearsals felt strange, because it’s very, very unnatural to walk into a room and stand in the middle of a circle. So when we went for the take, I put the blindfold on, I obviously ended up crying as Amy, but it was real.

‘It felt really real because you feel so disoriented. You don’t know where you are, you don’t recognize the voices. It’s all done to make Amy feel that way, and that’s how Rowan gets you. It’s because he wants you to feel uncomfortable, because then you rely on him. He breaks people down for him to be able to sort of build them back up again.’