Coronation Street actress Ruxandra Porojnicu has opened up about her real-life experience that helped her to prepare for Alina Pop's slavery storyline.
The story has seen Seb Franklin witness the horrors of modern slavery as he falls for Alina, who has been trafficked from Eastern Europe.
Appearing on today's (July 23) Lorraine, Ruxandra was asked how she prepared for the role, revealing parallels between it and her own experience of coming to the UK for the first time.
"What really helped me, at least at the beginning of the storyline, was that I found myself in Alina's situation when I came here, when I moved to the UK," she explained. "I kind of came with big dreams. I just wanted to work, work for a better future and earn money, that's it.
"So I was a bit naive, I wouldn't think, 'Oh I need to sign a contract, I need to know about those people more'. So at the beginning at least, I kind of got back to what I lived before and my experience, but after that I was doing lots of research, looking at documentaries.
"And also in my first day at Corrie, we had a meeting with the Salvation Army and with a victim of modern slavery, and they helped me so much giving me more information and more details, and hearing everything about someone that was actually in this situation."
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Explaining that she came to the country with only £300 in her pocket, Ruxandra continued: "When I came here, the first week, a friend of mine told me, 'Come here, I'm going to find you a job'.
"So I started to work five days on a construction site. I was cleaning and all that, without contract, without [anything].
"At least they didn't take my passport, I think my family would know to be careful with that. My family knew about what can happen, so I was lucky with that, my family was informed. But at the same time, I just took a chance and I just went, 'Yeah, it's a job, I'm going'."
Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7.30pm and 8.30pm on ITV.
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