Joe Alessi hopes his sexual abuse storyline in \'Coronation Street\' can "raise awareness" for the issue.
The star is currently appearing on the ITV soap as Kel, the stepfather of Paul Foreman (played by Peter Ash), who groomed and sexually abused Paul when he was a teenager.
And Joe has now said he hopes the plot - which sees Paul confront his painful past now that Joe is back in his life and dating his mum Bernice (Jane Hazelgrove) - will encourage other abuse survivors to come forward.
Speaking on \'Lorraine\' on Friday (04.10.19), he said: "Talk about being thrown into the deep end. It\'s not just another acting job, it comes with a responsibility to raise awareness of this issue of male sexual abuse. I worked very closely with Survivors Manchester which is a great charity.
"It\'s a lot of pressure, absolutely. A lot of pressure to get it right. But you know, researching the subject you come across some shocking statistics. It was reported that 12,000 men last year were raped, and that\'s a conservative estimate, because those are just reported cases."
The actor thinks hard hitting storylines are "important" for soaps to tackle, as they have a "great responsibility" to help others gain the courage to speak out.
He added: "It shows the importance of soaps like \'Coronation Street\'. During the David Platt rape storyline, the charity received a 1,700 percent increase in helpline calls. Which goes to show that storylines like this have a great responsibility to coax men to come out and talk about it. Especially working class men. We\'re very reluctant normally to talk about these things, but it\'s all for the good."
Joe - who also played villain Fraser Mason on \'EastEnders\' - also spoke about his character\'s inevitable end, saying Kel is a "finite" character who won\'t become a "regular" on the soap.
He said: "I don\'t know, I have no idea. It is open ended. Of course, the character I\'m playing is finite, I\'ll be a regular on \'Coronation Street\' that\'s for sure. My role will come to an end at some point, but there\'s going to be a lot of fall out."
