Bethany Platt

Bethany Britney Platt is the daughter of Sarah Platt and Neil Fearns. She was born in 2000 to 13-year-old Sarah, who had a relationship with schoolboy Neil. Bethany has been through a lot of drama in her life, including being kidnapped at birth by Alison Webster after the death of her child, having her life endangered by her step-grandfather Richard Hillman and almost dying after taking ecstasy tablets due to her uncle David Platt leaving them in her doll.

In December 2007, Sarah and Bethany left Weatherfield for a new life in Milan. They returned in March 2015.

2000-2007: Dramatic childhood
Sarah was just thirteen when she gave birth to Bethany. Her dad Neil wanted nothing to do with her and became an "absent father". Moments after birth, Alison Webster (who lost her baby Jake) kidnapped Bethany and threatened to kill herself. However Alison handed Bethany back over to her mother and ran in front of a truck (it wasn't known if this was an accident or on purpose).

When Bethany was two, Sarah almost died in a car crash because of her boyfriend Aidan Critchley who was joyriding. She knew how much Bethany meant to her and decided to become more of a good mother.

Gail's husband Richard Hillman tied up and gagged Bethany along with David, Sarah and Gail and tried to kill them by driving into the canal. They were rescued but Richard perished.

In 2003, her father Neil Fearns died in a road accident and Sarah took her to Neil's funeral. Neil's mother Brenda kidnapped Bethany and threatened to jump from the tower of St. Saviour's Church, so they could be reunited with Neil. But Emily Bishop managed to stop her and talked her out of it. Brenda was last seen sobbing in the back of an ambulance.

In 2004 Bethany had a new father figure in the form of Todd Grimshaw who began dating her mother and they moved into 17a Victoria Street. Todd got Sarah pregnant, and even showed interest in adopting Bethany to become a proper father to her. However none of this went ahead as Todd was a closet homosexual, and later had an affair with nurse Karl Foster (after an unsuccessful attempt to kiss Bethany's uncle Nick Tilsley) and thus broke up with her mother. Sarah gave birth to a son, Billy however he passed away a few days after his birth, and Todd later left Weatherfield for London. Sarah eventually dated and married Todd's older half-brother Jason.

While David was meant to be looking after Bethany in September 2007, he hid ecstasy tablets in her doll for his friend Darryl Morton. Bethany found and ate one of them and David made her drink loads of salt water to bring the tablet back up, inadvertently making the situation worse. Bethany fell unconscious and was rushed into Weatherfield General. Sarah attacked David when he confessed what had happened and Gail kicked him out of the house. After a few days Bethany recovered. She was a bridesmaid at her mother's wedding to Jason the following month (although the day was ruined when David faked a suicide attempt).

2007-2015: New life in Italy
In December 2007, Sarah planned to move to Italy with Jason and Bethany with her uncle, Stephen Reid. David was originally meant to go, but to get back at him for all the things he had done to her, Sarah planted ecstasy tablets in his drawer at Audrey's salon. Gail and Stephen were appalled and David was told in no uncertain terms that he couldn't go back to Milan with Stephen. Ready to embark on their new lives, Sarah proudly told Jason what she had done but this backfired as he was sickened and returned to Coronation Street to tell Gail and David what Sarah had done. Sarah left for Italy with Bethany. In July 2008, Gail went to visit them and in June 2009, Gail was accompanied on a visit by her mother Audrey Roberts.

2015-: Return
In March 2015, Bethany was expelled from her school in Milan, so stole money from her mother and paid for a trip back to the United Kingdom. She returned to Coronation Street after seven years, and immediately started causing trouble by dodging the taxi fare, persuading "Gavin Rodwell" to buy her a drink and arguing with Steph Britton. Gail caught Bethany drinking under age and took her to No.8. Bethany told Gail that Sarah was ignoring her and was more interested in work, but Gail got the true story from Sarah over the phone, and told Bethany that she would be returning to Milan. Bethany tried to get sympathy from Audrey by saying that she was being bullied at school, However, Gail insisted that she go back to Milan with her mother.

Sarah arrived in Weatherfield, and demanded that Bethany return to Milan with her. Sarah told boss (and uncle) Stephen that her internet was down, so she couldn't complete her work which was urgently needed. Bethany took advantage of this, and used the internet to email Stephen, who found out that Sarah was lying. Stephen subsequently called Sarah and fired her. Bethany's plan worked, and Sarah agreed they could stay in Weatherfield. In April Bethany started attending Weatherfield High.

Sarah became involved with Callum Logan - despite warnings from her family that he was dangerous. The two began dating and Bethany also became attracted to Callum, telling him of David and wife Kylie's secret plans to win back full custody of son Max. Bethany spent more time with Callum, believing he liked her back, when in reality he was manipulating her. Callum took photos and videos of her delivering his drugs and pretending to smoke cannabis which he used to blackmail Sarah when she broke up with him over his dangerous lifestyle. After learning that Max witnessed Callum beating up Jason in the ginnel, he drugged Sarah and forced Bethany to give him an alibi. Bethany told police that she was with Callum in his flat when Jason was attacked. She later retracted her statement when Callum used his thugs to threaten Audrey and wreck No.8.

Background information

 * Bethany was played by twins Amy and Emily Walton from birth through until her exit in 2007. However, she was played by actress Mia Cookson for a short while in September 2000.
 * Bethany made a return in March 2015, with Lucy Fallon taking over the role. Originally actress Katie Redford was signed up for the part, however she was dropped days before filming after it was revealed that she had lied about her age. Redford claimed to be 19, the age the production team were looking for, but she was actually 25.