Sam at risk in Coronation Street as he requests to see evil Megan
Sam Blakeman’s (Jude Riordan) request has the potential to impact his recovery in Coronation Street soon, as he asks his dad Nick Tilsley (Ben Price) if he can see Megan Walsh (Beth Nixon) at her trial.
The youngster has spent the past few weeks in a mental health unit after suffering a psychosis breakdown. Sam had started experiencing hallucinations of Roy Cropper (David Neilson), and didn’t realise the version of the beloved cafe owner wasn’t actually real.
Before the vision of Roy appeared in his head, Sam started seeing Will Driscoll (Lucas Hodgson-Wale). He believed that Will was out to get him after he became the person to expose the abuse the teen was experiencing at the hands of Megan.
In the period leading up to Sam telling Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson) that Megan had been taking advantage of Will, he was being manipulated by the local school teacher into keeping quiet. All of this resulted in Sam reaching a crisis point back at the start of June.
Following an incident in the cafe involving the real Roy and Sam’s hallucination, the teen fled the cobbles and hid from everyone at the precinct. He was found by Carla Connor-Swain (Alison King), who recognised the signs of psychosis as a result of her own ordeal.
Carla called Nick, who eventually drove Sam to hospital. He was sectioned, and then diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Sam has made a lot of progress and in upcoming episodes, Nick and Toyah Battersby (Georgia Taylor) learn that there’s a high chance he will be discharged at the end of the week.
However, when Sam reveals that he’d like to attend Megan’s trial as it might help him move on, Nick can’t help but worry about the impact it might have on his lad.
Later in the week, as Megan’s trial looms, Sam frets about how it’s going to unfold. He begins to worry that she will be found not guilty, and then come after him for revenge.
With this thought in his mind, will Nick really agree to let Sam attend court?
Actor Ben Price previously praised star Jude Riordan’s performance throughout this story, saying: ‘Selfishly, I want him to be brilliant, and he is brilliant. When you’re with someone who’s discovering that power as an actor, in an adult story, it’s really amazing to watch. He is really, really good and such a nice young lad as well.
‘Super level, super diligent, but also, he’s got a bit of a Platt about him. It’s been really lovely for me. I get to work with a really good actor, and it makes me better.’
Reflecting on the past few years Jude has been in the show, Ben added: ‘It’s very tricky in the show to go from a child actor to, you know, your voice breaks, you get bigger, and you’re given a story which brilliantly bridges the child-to-adult story. Which you’re carrying. We did talk about it a lot. We’re quite close in a very work way.
‘We’re very good at sitting down and going, “What do they need from the scene?” I remember we did an early scene where he lost it, and I said, “I think we go for this. I think we really go for it, because I think you’re leading this now.” When he was younger, I would probably be more of the driving force, but I said, “I think you are now. This is your story.”