Amy James-Kelly thinks Maddie Heath's death in 'Coronation Street' was "damaging".
Amy James-Kelly (c) Instagram
The 26-year-old actress - who appeared on the ITV soap from 2013 to 2015 - can understand why some viewers had a problem with her lesbian character's demise.
She told Metro.co.uk: "I think that is an interesting point of discussion. I’m glad that people have started to recognise that.
"Back in my late teens, being a straight white woman who had a good education and really good career opportunities from a young age, it wasn’t anything that rang alarm bells with me because again, I would probably be considered quite sheltered in that respect, because I’m not part of a minority.
"From the point of view of a gay woman, seeing yourself represented on screen as constantly being killed off, yes that absolutely must be damaging and it’s something that again I could never hope to understand. I didn’t see how much of an issue it would be at the time because I was just this young actress who thought, 'Wow, how exciting to be involved in such a mad experience to film on set.'
"It’s only since then, growing older and wiser and seeing what effect that would have on somebody [if] that’s their only representation of themselves on screen - I can fully appreciate how that might mess with your head a bit."
Maddie's story came to an end when she sustained serious injuries after she was caught in an explosion and died a couple of days later.
However, Amy doesn't want to criticise the writers of the soap, saying she has an "amazing experience" on the show.
She said: "It was an amazing experience for me to film that exit story but I can understand how it would potentially be negative to see yourself represented in that way."