Emmerdale’s Zoe Henry defends rape scenes being aired

Emmerdale viewers have watched Pierce Harris abuse his wife for months

Over the past few months Emmerdale viewers have watched evil Pierce make a sex tape with Rhona without her knowing, create a distance between her and her friends and made her life hell without her even realising it.

This week viewers watched Rhona and Pierce get married but things turned sinister when Pierce got furious after he noticed she was wearing Paddy's mums necklace. Things took a horrific turn of the worse when Pierce raped his wife and now Zoe Henry, who plays Rhona, has defended those scenes being aired on television.

Appearing on This Morning, she explained to Holly and Phil: "When I watched it back [during rehearsals] I thought 'that's kind of heavy,' and we go out at 7.

"I have kids, I get it and I worry about how this will affect people. But it's more implied than shown and I think that's how it's managed to go out."

The director also defended the episode and said: "If we're not telling the story properly then there's no point in telling it."

Holly also pointed out that there was a warning before the show started and following the episode there were hotline numbers available for other victims.

The 43-year-old actress also revealed that these types of storylines bring a lot of awareness and Women's Aid https://www.womensaid.org.uk/ have also agreed that usually there is a spike in reports after a TV show has covered the issue.

Zoe also hinted that although the storyline will no longer be violent Pierce's reaction is the "toughest" part yet. The actress admitted it was harder to film the upcoming episodes than the actual rape scene because Pierce's reaction.

She continued: "You expect an apology, or a 'I can't believe I did that,' and that doesn't come.

"I won't spoil it by saying what does come but it's quite surprising. There's no more violence but it is worse in a way."

In tonight's episode Rhona will report Pierce's attack to the police but will she confess her husband is behind the crime?

You can watch Zoe Henry's full interview below.

Emmerdale continues tonight at 7pm on ITV.

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