Melanie Hill supported 'Britain's Got Talent' act Sign Along With Us through "horrendous" trolling.
Melanie Hill
The 'Coronation Street' actress - whose character Cathy Matthews has been trolling Steve and Tracy McDonald (Simon Gregson and Kate Ford) - says the cobbles plot helped her realise the extent of the issue, particularly with the abuse the brother and sister act, Jade Kilduff and her sibling Christian, who has a brain injury, cerebral palsy, visual impairments, global development delay and sensory processing disorder, suffered on the ITV show last year.
She said: "Sign Along With Us, who were on 'BGT', had an awful experience.
"I was supporting them on the show and they contacted me and other famous supporters asking for help as they were the victims of awful trolls. Christian had the most horrendous things said about him online.
"It was ironic that it was the week I was starting to film this and it really brought it home to me how important it was to get this message across. Social media has got so much power and it is scary."
Melanie is "grateful" to be tackling the story on 'Corrie', and she suggested her character being involved was an important aspect.
She added: "I felt it was interesting to have it start with a character like Cathy, not one of the more obviously outspoken nasty characters.
"This shows just how easy it is to become a troll and hurt people’s feelings, by just not thinking about what you are doing.
"I am grateful that I have got this storyline to play out because it shows how becoming a troll can ruin your life, not just the people you are trolling. It makes it worse because it is her, she is not equipped to deal with it."
Cathy herself gets hit by a real backlash over her own comments, and in the coming weeks she is at risk of losing her job.
Melanie said: "She would never imagine it would have come to this and that is the thing about this situation and the message that the storyline is sending, think twice before you post something nasty that might upset somebody.
"Think about the person reading that message, it isn’t only about the first comment that Cathy makes it is then about all the people wading in and making their own comments about Cathy."