In one of Emmerdale's most hard-hitting and talked-about storylines, schoolteacher Maya Stepney has been grooming pupil Jacob Gallagher over the past few months. And on Thursday, it was reported by The Sun that actress Louisa Clein has already filmed her final scenes. While it is not yet known how Maya will leave the soap, the show's producer Kate Brooks has previously assured that they would conclude the storyline with the "right outcome." She told the Metro: "We’ve got a responsibility. A lot of people watch the show, a lot of teenagers watch the show, and also we would never just tell one of these stories lightly, we have a duty to make sure the right protocol is carried out, and the right outcome."
Emmerdale's Maya has been grooming Jacob over the past few months
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Most recently, Maya was arrested, but twisted the storyline to the police, insisting that Jacob had a crush on her and turned the attention to Leyla Harding, Tracy Metcalfe and Priya Sharma who had attacked her in the woods and left her for dead. As a result, they were also taken in for questioning. Maya and Jacob were first discovered together by Jacob's ex-girlfriend Liv Flaherty, who attempted to blackmail the pair into keeping their secret. Leyla then spotted them kissing during the soap's Big Night Out episodes, resulting in his protective mum Leyla vowing for revenge.
Actress Louisa Clein has reportedly filmed her final scenes
The soap's storyline has caused a lot of reaction from viewers due to its sensitive nature, and has been praised by many for highlighting the issue. Louisa appeared on Loose Women last month and revealed that it was "an amazing opportunity" to tell a "really important story." She added that the scenes were meant to be uncomfortable to watch in order to spread awareness.
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Louisa also admitted in February that it had been "tough" filming certain scenes. Appearing on Lorraine, she said: "We've had a real mixed reaction, we've had people who are so incredibly shocked by the story, we don't want to tell a romantic titillating story. Emmerdale has done a good job in not to do that, and we've some people saying, 'Stop this now, this is enough already," and we've also had an enormous amount of people saying, "Thank you, this does happen.'"
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