Bethany Platt

Bethany Britney Platt is a fictional character in the British television soap opera Coronation Street, born to underage parents Sarah Platt and Neil Ferns. She has been played by twins Amy Walton and Emily Walton since the character's birth.

Sarah-Louise Platt was just thirteen years old when she gave birth to Bethany and this caused quite a controversy. Just hours after her birth, Bethany was kidnapped by Alison Webster, whose baby, Jake, had just died. Luckily, Alison and Bethany were found, but Alison committed suicide after handing Bethany over. Bethany was originally going to be named Britney, after pop princess Britney Spears but her grandma Audrey was dead against the idea. Therefore she named her Bethany, and Britney was her middle name.

Bethany had not been planned but Sarah tried to cope even though she was still a child herself. She often left Bethany with her mother and once even left her at home by herself. Sarah once kept Bethany a secret from her first boyfriend.

When Bethany was two, Sarah was in a car crash with rebel boyfriend Aidan Critchley and nearly died. When she survived, Sarah vowed to make the most of her life and be a fantastic mother as she realised just how much Bethany meant to her. She felt awful about the way she treated her, and as she grew older, did become more attentive to her daughter.

When Gail's husband, Richard Hillman tried to kill Sarah, Gail Platt, David, Bethany and himself by driving the family car into the canal, Sarah undid Bethany's seat belt and swam to safety with her. Gail and David also survived, however Richard himself died.

Much to Gail's horror, Sarah and Bethany moved in with Sarah's boyfriend Todd Grimshaw, who treated Bethany like his own daughter after Gail had forbidden Sarah from doing so only a few months before. Gail was horrified that Sarah took Bethany and tried to convince Sarah to bring Bethany home, which Sarah refused to do, and when Gail went round and tried to take Bethany, she would not leave and Sarah said that Bethany knew whom she wanted to be with. Gail called Social Services to try to get Beth home but Sarah found out and was hurt that her mother could do such a thing and for a while, refused to let Gail see Bethany and didn't speak to her for months.

Bethany's father, Neil Ferns, never met Bethany and neither he or his parents had any interest in her. However, after Neil's death, his mother Brenda made contact with Bethany and started to look after her because she felt Bethany was the only thing of Neil's she had left and desperately wanted something to hold on to. This upset Gail, who was estranged from Sarah at the time, as she felt like she was being replaced and cut out of Bethany's life when she was there from the beginning and basically raised her. Brenda was unbalanced by her grief after the death of her son and planned to kill herself and Bethany so they could be with Neil. Luckily Emily Bishop found them in time and Bethany was rescued. Sarah later gave birth to Bethany's half-brother, Billy Platt, who died shortly afterwards. Todd Grimshaw was the father and was distraught at Billy's death.

Sarah and Bethany were back living with Gail and David. For a while, Sarah's boyfriend Scooter lived there too, but Sarah ended their relationship. Much to the dismay of her mother and his, who felt that she had ruined Todd's life, Sarah began a relationship with Jason Grimshaw, Todd's half-brother. They became engaged but Jason left Sarah at the altar.

Sarah tries hard to be a loving mother to Bethany. However, she feels she needs some excitement in her life and can be neglectful but she loves Bethany deeply and once said that if anything happened to her, there would be nothing left to live for. Bethany is a sweet, affectionate, loving little girl. She is now attending school and is looked after by her mother and Jason Grimshaw.

On 17 September 2007, Bethany found and ate ecstasy which her uncle, David, had hid in her doll. This concerned David so much that he made Bethany drink salt water, hoping to make her sick. When Sarah returned home, Bethany wasn't feeling well and Sarah thought it was the gas leak at her school, which was why Bethany had come home early and David was looking after her. When Bethany started having fits, Sarah rushed her to hospital where doctors tried to stabilise her but couldn't, due to not knowing what she had eaten. David confessed that Bethany had swallowed an 'E', prompting Sarah to almost attack David. Bethany was sent to Intensive Care where she made a full recovery and came home on Sunday 23 September. Unfortunately the hospital had notified Social Services about the pill Bethany had taken. They were concerned enough to interview Sarah and discuss the possibility of Bethany going into care. As a result, Sarah told Gail that either David moved out or she and Bethany would. She was not prepared to allow David anywhere near her daughter again. Gail agreed that David was wrong and told him to move out. When Bethany was discharged from hospital, she was told that she could have her own room, as her uncle David had moved out.

Sarah planned revenge on David for ruining her wedding day and found the perfect opportunity when Bethany's great uncle, Stephen, offered David a job in Milan. David accepted and Sarah was very envious. Therefore, Sarah planted ecstasy in his drawer at Audrey's Salon where Audrey found it. Stephen withdrew his offer to David after what happened to Bethany a couple of months earlier, and Gail couldn't believe he was still using drugs after the incident. Jason was offered the job and Bethany is to move to Italy with them.

Whilst at the train station, Sarah admitted that she had planted the drugs. Jason was horrified and told Sarah to not get on the train. However, Sarah and Bethany got on the train and eventually left for Italy, without Jason.