Courtroom

The end of Tuesday’s episode: Bethany and Sarah leaving the courtroom at the end of Nathan’s trial. Arm in arm, walking through the lobby to the door. We could still hear the voices in the courtroom.

“Do you find the defendant guilty or not guilty?” the judge asks. The jury foreman reading out the verdicts on the charges against Nathan and his fellow sexual predators. Guilty, guilty, guilty.

Coronation Street rarely overlays a soundtrack that does not fit within the setting. I am thankful for that. It takes away from a scene’s realism to have sound – whether music or speech – that cannot be traced to a logical source. So the ambient sound makes visual sense.

Hearing the verdict

What was said in that courtroom could not have been heard outside its closed doors unless the courthouse has paper thin walls. And that’s not likely. So there’s no way Bethany and Sarah would have heard the verdicts being read outside the courtroom.

But the voiceover of courtroom call and response in this scene worked beautifully. It heightened the dramatic power of both the process and the personal. It allowed us to relish the moment of hearing the verdicts while we could also see a poignant moment of relief and release for these two women.

Everything Bethany and Sarah have been through showed clearly in their walk along the hallway. We didn’t need their words. We heard “guilty” over and over, and we saw mother and daughter supporting each other as they walked toward the door.

Walking out of a nightmare. The stone walls they are leaving are maybe both confinement and protection. They are heading outside to the light of day. No longer feeling confined, no longer needing protection. Bethany won. Nathan and his nasty cohort of child sexual abusers are going down. Hurray.

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Girl A: The truth about the Rochdale sex ring by the victim who stopped them (2013) is a real-life story like Bethany’s. Tap title to see on Amazon.