List of Coronation Street Characters (2000) - Bethany Platt

Bethany Britney Platt is the daughter of Sarah-Louise Platt and her school classmate Neil Fearns who got her pregnant unexpectedly. She was played by twins Amy and Emily Walton since the character's birth.

Sarah was just thirteen years old when she gave birth to Bethany and this caused quite a controversy. Just hours after her birth, Bethany was kidnapped by Alison Webster, whose baby, Jake, had just died. Alison and Bethany were found, but Alison committed suicide after handing Bethany over. Bethany was originally going to be named Britney, after pop star Britney Spears but her great grandmother Audrey was against the idea and suggested Sarah give her a more appropriate name. Therefore she named her Bethany, and Britney was her middle name.

Bethany had not been planned but Sarah tried to cope even though she was still a child herself. She often left Bethany with her mother, Gail and once even left her at home by herself. Sarah initially kept Bethany a secret from her first boyfriend, Todd Grimshaw.

When Bethany was two, Sarah was badly injured a car crash caused by her boyfriend Aidan Critchley and nearly died. When she survived, Sarah vowed to be the best mother she could as she realised just how much Bethany meant to her. She felt awful about the way she treated her, and as she grew older, did become more attentive to her daughter.

When Gail's husband, Richard Hillman tried to kill Sarah, Gail, David, Bethany and himself by driving the family car into the canal, Sarah undid Bethany's seat belt and swam to safety with her.

Much to Gail's disgust, Sarah and Bethany moved in with Sarah's boyfriend Todd Grimshaw, who treated Bethany like his own daughter after Gail had forbidden Sarah from doing so only a few months before. Gail was horrified that Sarah took Bethany and tried to convince Sarah to bring Bethany home, which Sarah refused to do, and when Gail went round and tried to take Bethany, she would not leave and Sarah said that Bethany knew whom she wanted to be with. Gail called Social Services to try to get Bethany returned home, but Sarah found out and was hurt that her mother could do such a thing and for a while refused to let Gail see Bethany and did not speak to her for months.

Bethany's father, Neil Fearns, never met Bethany, and neither he nor his parents had any interest in her. However, after Neil's death in a car crash, his mother Brenda made contact with Bethany and started to look after her because she felt Bethany was the only thing of Neil's she had left and desperately wanted something to hold on to. This upset Gail, who was estranged from Sarah at the time, as she felt she was being replaced and cut out of Bethany's life when she was there from the beginning and had raised her whilst Sarah was at school. Brenda was mentally unbalanced by her grief of losing Neil and planned to kill herself and Bethany so they could be with Neil. However, Emily Bishop found them in time and Bethany was rescued. Sarah later gave birth to Bethany's half-brother, Billy Platt, who died shortly afterwards. Todd Grimshaw was the father and was distraught at Billy's death. Sarah and Bethany went back to live with Gail and David. Bethany began attending Bessie Street primary school and was often looked after by Jason Grimshaw after he began dating Sarah.

On 17 September 2007, Bethany found and ate an ecstasy tablet which her uncle, David, had hidden in her doll. This concerned David so much that he made Bethany drink salt water, hoping to make her sick. When Sarah returned home, Bethany was feeling ill and Sarah thought it was due to a gas leak at her school, which was the reason why Bethany had come home early and David had been looking after her. When Bethany started having fits, Sarah rushed her to hospital where doctors tried to stabilise her but couldn't, due to not knowing what she had eaten. David confessed that Bethany had swallowed an 'E' tablet, prompting Sarah to try and attack David. Bethany was sent to Intensive Care where she made a full recovery and came home on Sunday 23 September. Unfortunately the hospital had notified Social Services about the pill Bethany had taken. They were concerned enough to interview Sarah and discuss the possibility of Bethany going into care. As a result, Sarah told Gail that either David moved out or she and Bethany would. She was not prepared to allow David anywhere near her daughter again. Gail agreed that David was in the wrong and told him to move out. When Bethany was discharged from hospital, she was told that she could have David's room.

Sarah planned revenge on David for ruining her wedding day to Jason and found the perfect opportunity when Bethany's great uncle, Stephen Reid, offered David a job in Milan. David accepted and Sarah was very envious. Therefore, Sarah planted ecstasy in his drawer at Audrey's Salon where Audrey found it. Stephen withdrew his offer to David after what happened to Bethany a couple of months earlier, and Gail couldn't believe he was still using drugs after the incident. Sarah was offered the job and planned to move to Italy with Jason and Bethany.

While at the train station, Sarah admitted that she had planted the drugs. Jason was horrified and told Sarah to not get on the train. However, Sarah and Bethany got on the train and eventually left for Italy, without Jason.