Corrie's Amy and Aaron all smiles as cast reunited away from the drama as viewers reeling from harrowing rape storyline

Coronation Street has been praised for tackling the issue of consent with a new storyline involving Amy Barlow and her best friend's boyfriend Aaron Sandford. And at the weekend the cast involved in the harrowing scenes were reunited away from the drama as they showcased their strong friendships.

In Friday night's episode (March 3) viewers were reeling when Amy was raped by Aaron after the pair both fell out with Aaron's girlfriend Summer Spellman. During Aaron's cocktail night celebration at being promoted to mechanic at Kevin Webster's garage, they both ended up rowing with Summer.

Back at the flat they share, Amy and Aaron bonded as they played drinking games and ended up kissing in her bedroom. But events took a dark turn when Amy, played by Elle Mulvaney, complained of feeling sick and passed out asleep and Aaron, played by James Craven, preyed on her.

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On Saturday night Elle and James were all smiles away from the cobbles as they partied together with Harriet Bibby, who plays Summer, Adam Hussain, who plays Aadi Alahan, and Jack James Ryan who played Amy's ex boyfriend Jacob Hay. As Elle and Harriet shared snaps of the group on their Instagram Adam commented proudly: "Squad fam."

James, who was introduced to the ITV soap almost a year ago when his character met Summer at a diabetic support group, said: "Pretty cool gang." Elle, who has played Amy the daughter of Tracy and Steve McDonald since 2010, captioned the pictures: "Saturday nights alright."

Soap fans were delighted to see the young actors together in real-life including mblondon03 who exclaimed: "Summer and Aaron." And