GRAPHIC scenes in which Ryan Connor screamed in agony after having acid thrown in his face made harrowing viewing for Coronation Street viewers.
But the real-life survivor of a similar attack, who guided the actor ahead of filming, says Ryan’s distressing response was essential to portray the reality of an attack - and was exactly what he endured himself.
Andreas Christopheros was left blind in one eye and scarred for life after a man threw a pint of sulphuric acid in his face in 2014.
The brave businessman, who has since endured close to 80 operations and procedures, spent two hours talking to Coronation Street actor Ryan Prescott, who plays victim Ryan, to help ensure the storyline was as accurate as possible.
Andreas says: “It’s hard to put into words the true sensation of what you’re going through, which is why Ryan and I talked about it at such length - it’s not like burning yourself on the oven.
Helen Flanagan battles to save NYE plans after 'poo explosion' in her car
“I don’t remember much – my mind slowed down and I went into survival mode – but my wife has told me she will never forget the blood-curdling screams.
“I listened to the 999 call I made and I heard some of my screaming and it was a horrific thing. I’m one of the few people who have been allowed to listen to it, because it’s so distressing.”
Viewers saw Ryan step in the way when stalker Justin Rutherford (Andrew Still) threw a cup of acid at Daisy Midgeley (Charlotte Jordan) in the Rovers Return, as she prepared to leave for her wedding to Daniel Osbourne (Rob Mallard).
The acid hit Ryan and the scenes in which he writhed on the floor in pain were some of the most shocking ever seen in the show’s 62 year-history.
Andreas, 37, says: “A big part of what Ryan asked me was about that initial reaction – how it felt in those moments when the acid hit, how it felt in those moments afterwards, what happened and how I reacted.”
Andreas was attacked at his home in Truro, Cornwall while his wife Pia and young son Theo, then just 18 months old, were upstairs.
David Phillips had driven 300 miles from Sussex to carry out a revenge attack against someone he believed had assaulted a member of his family, but it was a case of mistaken identity and he had the wrong house.
He knocked on the door and when Andreas opened it, he said: ‘this is for you, mate,’ before hurling acid into his face.
Andreas recalls: “My t-shirt immediately disintegrated and rolled away. I knew it was acid straightaway. I stripped off my clothes, which were hanging off me and got to the kitchen sink and doused myself in loads of water.
“I didn’t know at the time that was the right thing to do, but it made sense. I stayed conscious until the ambulance arrived and then I blacked out.”
Stalking terror rocks Coronation Street as barmaid targeted
Andreas was rushed to hospital where his family were warned to prepare for the worst. “They didn’t think I was going to make it through the night and it took them over 24 hours to get me stable enough to fly me to a specialist burns unit in Wales,” he recalls.
“I didn’t wake up for six days.”
In upcoming weeks viewers will see Ryan in hospital struggling to come to terms with the severity of his burns, insisting he doesn’t want to see anyone or look at his injuries.
Andreas says the scenes mirror his own situation. “I explained to Ryan that I didn’t want to see myself,” he recalls.
“The hospital team made sure any reflective surface was covered up, so I couldn’t see how terrible I looked until I was ready.
“One day some mates came to see me and I decided to do it.
"I thought I would probably deal with it in a better way and laugh it off if I did it with them, rather than with my wife.”
Initially Andreas and his wife decided it was best their young son didn’t see him, but when he finally did visit six weeks later, he was scared of what he saw.
“He took one look at me and he hugged her and wouldn’t come to me or look at me. My heart absolutely sank,” Andreas says sadly.
“But then I started talking and he realised it was me and he hugged me and didn’t let go of me for 45 minutes.”
When Andreas finally left hospital after six weeks his recovery was far from over. “The scarring is the biggest problem,” he explains.
“You get a lot of contraction and I’ve lost my eyelids three times. The most torturous thing I’ve ever been through isn’t so much an acid attack, it is not having eyelids, because there is no way to get away from the light when you want to sleep, because you just can’t shut your eyes.
“I’m blind in one eye, had damage to my other eye and I’ve got scars down my torso and on my arms. He threw the acid in an upwards motion so it hit the ceiling above me, which meant acid rained down on top of me, so I have all these drip burns down my back.
“I’m someone who likes to put a brave face on things, but there were lows and I saw a psychotherapist who helped me for years.”
Andreas hasn’t yet seen the Coronation Street episode in which Ryan is attacked and isn’t yet sure he will.
“Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a funny old beast; you never really know when it will rear its head,” he explains.
“I was attacked at four o’clock on a December afternoon and those gloomy winter afternoons can still catch me off guard and trigger my PTSD.
“I’d be lying if I said there weren’t times when I wanted to kill myself – especially in the few years after the attack. I would much rather have been shot or stabbed, because I would have been able to build my life up in a better way than you can when you are wearing full facial scars.”
Andreas, who is a property manager and also runs the custom and classic car event, Run to the Sun, still lives in Truro, with wife Pia, 40, and their two young sons, Theo, now nine and Lazarus, five.
Since his attack he has worked with the Katie Piper Foundation, a charity set up by the TV presenter to help burns survivors, after she endured an acid attack herself in 2008.
Andreas is also an ambassador for Face Forward, a charity that helps victims of violent crime, domestic violence and sexual abuse and he campaigns passionately for changes in the law to try to prevent future acid attacks.
His own attacker pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life with a minimum of eight years in jail, but after an appeal his sentence was reduced to 16 years. He was moved to an open prison after five years and then released last year.
Andreas says: “Judges saw my injuries first hand and yet they still made a decision that he was not a dangerous man.
“We need better training so they understand the severity of these types of crimes. Currently we have a justice system that just does not support survivors.
“Sentences given to attackers do not fit the crime and we have a two-strike policy, where if you are caught carrying acid twice on the streets you can face jail. Why twice, not once?
“I have campaigned for legislation where it would become an offence to decant any concentrated acids into an unlabelled bottle.”
As well as talking to actor Ryan, Andreas and the Katie Piper Foundation also spoke to the show’s producer Iain MacLeod and a storyline researcher.
He says: “It was good to work with Coronation Street so they portrayed the attack correctly and did the subject justice. And hopefully it will educate people about what to do in the event of an attack, which is invaluable.
“I know there are other survivors who don’t agree with it being portrayed on screen, but we can’t sweep acid attacks under the carpet and pretend like they’re not part of our society, because sadly they are.”
For more information about the Katie Piper Foundation go to: www.katiepiperfoundation.org.uk
