Asha Alahan (Tanisha Gorey) is feeling the pressure in a special Coronation Street episode coming soon, as she has a panic attack and then we see the events leading up to it.
The panic attack comes as Asha prepares to say her goodbyes to her twin brother, Aadi (Adam Hussain). He’s disgraced himself by running up debt while managing his father’s shop, staging a mock robbery to try to claim the insurance, and lying about his involvement in drugs at a party that led to Lauren Bolton (Cait Fitton) being spiked.
In the wake of all this, his dad Dev (Jimmi Harkishin) decided to send his son to India, to take up a new job there and try to get his life back on track.
As Aadi assures his family that he’s looking forward to his new life, Asha is overcome with emotion and runs out to the back yard of the Rovers. As she tries to calm herself, she relives some terrible things she experienced during the day on her shift as a paramedic.
‘It feels like everything is hitting her from every angle and she doesn’t know how to cope with it all,’ Tanisha Gorey told us. ‘She feels really alone while battling everything and there’s a series of events that take place during a horrific shift which ultimately leads her to experiencing a panic attack.’
Tanisha said that Asha is ‘spiralling,’ but that she doesn’t know who to talk to about her situation to get the help she needs. Recent deaths close to home are also playing on her mind.
‘The pressure that comes with seeing people die who she believes she’s supposed to save, it’s a really overwhelming feeling and she feels like a failure. I think she has a bit of PTSD from Mason (Luca Toolan) and Craig (Colson Smith) dying too which always plays in her head. I think she just feels like the job might not be right for her then she faces a racist attack and everything feels like it’s coming crashing down.’
In this new video clip, we see a small glimpse into what to expect from the instalment. Asha is seen trying to help a drunk woman called Naomi, but she reacts badly when Asha tries to help her out of the ambulance.
Naomi throws a bottle at Asha and it leaves her terrified. Back in the present day, Asha is completely frozen, suffering a panic attack all alone.
Portraying the realities of being a young paramedic is something Tanisha took very seriously, she told us.
‘Stepping into the shoes of a trainee paramedic and exploring the highs, lows, and emotional challenges of their work has been both moving and eye-opening. It’s a role that carries a huge responsibility, and I hope we’ve done justice to the reality so many face.
‘I was filming almost every day from 7am til 7pm for the whole block so when you’re in that mindset, it’s hard to switch out of and I did take it home with me because I was going home and learning my lines for the next day. I struggled a little bit with the emotion because I wanted to get everything right,’ she admitted.
As well as her job, the other thing that Asha is struggling with is the thought of her brother moving to the other side of the world.
‘She’s absolutely distraught about Aadi leaving,’ Tanisha said.
‘They aren’t just twins but they are also best friends – although they have a love/hate relationship – deep down they are best friends and she’s terrified to lose him.
