Asha Alahan (Tanisha Gorey) is silently suffering in Coronation Street, but will a timely intervention by DS Lisa Swain (Vicky Myers) convince her to seek help?
Asha isn’t in a good way. After a quiet period on the cobbles, she takes centre stage in a special episode, highlighting just how much of a toll recent events are taking on her.
‘She’s absolutely spiralling, but I don’t think she realises just how bad she is feeling and of course without talking to anyone about it, she’s not going to get the help that she desperately needs,’ Tanisha explains.
Her sadness and anxiety over losing her twin brother, Aadi (Adam Hussain) as he looks set to embark on a fresh start in India is only compounded by a terrible shift. Fans previously saw Asha decide to train to become a paramedic and will see the full effect it’s having on her.
Asha finally breaks when she disappears from Aadi’s leaving party and becomes gripped by a debilitating panic attack. Flashing back to her shift, we see Asha encounter a death, an injured elderly patient and finally, be subject to a hideous racist attack.
She later encounters another potentially devastating situation, when she recognises Aadi’s car in an accident she’s been called to and later, tears strips out of Brody Michaelis (Ryan Mulvey) in a confrontation at the Bistro.
She’s chastised by her work mentor and both tries and fails to open up to her dad, Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin), seeking solace at the Rover’s with a few too many drinks.
Lisa comes to the rescue and takes a drunk Asha home, imploring her to open up.
Asha finally feels safe enough to unburden herself, and explains to a sympathetic Lisa about the woman who verbally racially abused her and later physically assaulted her.
Asha is struck when Lisa implores her to report the incident to her manager – but will she? Or will she continue to suffer in silence?
