Mollie Gallagher feels "proud" of the role she's played in 'Coronation Street's hate crime storyline.
Mollie Gallagher (c) Instagram
The actress plays Nina Lucas in the ITV soap and after her character was attacked because of her appearance, Mollie says it's important to bring issues like hate crimes to the public's attention.
She shared: "It' something that I do find quite hard. I absolutely love playing these characters and I absolutely love playing Nina and I do get really attached to her. And because the stoyline is very important and I'm really attached to her ... I've put so much effort into it and hopefully that shows."
The heartbreaking storyline is loosely based on the real-life death of Sophie Lancaster, who was murdered in 2007.
Mollie actually spoke to Sophie's mum Sylvia about the issue before she took on the storyline.
She told ITV's 'Loose Women': "I've had Zooms with Sylvia who is absolutely amazing and completely inspiring.
"She did a presentation with us and any advice that we needed she was there. A lot of the research we got was from Sylvia, as well as finding stuff online ... learning about hate crime in general, so yeah, I'm really grateful."
Mollie has become more aware of hate crimes and their impact since speaking to Sylvia.
And she feels proud that 'Coronation Street' bosses decided to explore such a difficult issue.
She explained: "Speaking to Sylvia, you realise how shocking it is and how much it does happen, and how it shouldn't be happening. Being part of a storyline on 'Corrie', I'm so proud to be part of it, you know, helping to create awareness."