'Coronation Street's Bethany Platt is set to collapse.
Lucy Fallon as Bethany Platt
The blonde schoolchild - portrayed by Lucy Fallon - will spark fears for her health over the next coming months when she becomes obsessed with exercising and gets hooked on dieting pills following cruel fat jibes from her classmates.
The show's new boss Kate Oates told the RadioTimes.co.uk: "Because of the bullying, Bethany is a teenage girl feeling out of control of her life, which is something that a lot of people can relate to. But Bethany's way of managing that is to take diet pills and over exercise. This is going to be a slow-burn storyline that we're going to play quite gently over a fair period of time. We want to play it truthfully because it's something that people are going through in real life."
However, not everyone is oblivious to Bethany's deteriorating health as Gary Windass (Mikey North) witnesses her collapse and comes to her aid before coaxing the truth out of her.
The flame-haired mechanic rushes to the school to tell the headmaster to stamp out the bullying or he'll take legal action.
But Gary's caring gesture is taken the wrong way and Bethany begins to think he has feelings for her.
Kate explained: "Gary is a brilliant support and we do see Bethany giving him doe-eyed looks when he's her knight in shining armour. But I'm not sure Gary feels the same way."
Tagged in Coronation Street Mikey North