Home and Away has a long history of tackling important social issues-and in this week's episodes, the delicate subject of sexual assault is exposed. In scenes that will shock viewers, Tammin Sursok's character Dani Sutherland is attacked by fellow student Kane Phillips [Sam Atwell]. Speaking exclusively to TV Week, Tammin says that the harrowing storyline has left her emotional and exhausted. "It was very hard to film," she says. " I was apprehensive when the writers first told me about it,but I suppose that was good because I really put everything into getting it right. "There are so many things going on in kids' lives that they need to know about. If this storyline helps 10 kids, then that's something." As Home and Away viewers will see, Dani is well and truly out of her depth when the unpredictable Kane takes a kiss too far. "Dani has kissed Kane once before-behind the back of her boyfriend Will [Zac Drayson]- and even though she knows it's wrong, she can't help flirting with him," Tammin explains. "She keeps seeing him, and one day he helps her into the house with the groceries. That's when Kane kisses her again...and this time, he takes it way too far." Home and Away producers had to be very careful about what they could show, given the program's 7pm timeslot. Nonetheless, the end result is dramatic. After extensive research, Tammin decided the only way to do the storyline justice was to "get into the moment". "I just said to myself,'I've been assaulted, I've been assaulted.' That's how the tears came," she reveals. "Sam is a fantastic actor and made it a lot easier for me, but it was still hard to turn off. All I wanted to do was go home and cry, but I couldn't. I had been crying all day and physically couldn't do it anymore." Tammin also spent a lot of time on her own at weekends, trying to recover. "I was so tired and didn't feel like talking to anyone or doing anything," she says. "It was because I was putting all my efforts into the work. I had no energy left. I still feel really affected by it even now." |