The nation was gripped by the three-part BBC One drama Three Girls that aired last week, and many have been moved by the story of Sara Rowbotham, the sexual health worker played by Maxine Peake.
After meeting the victims of the Rochdale child grooming case in the sexual health centre she worked in and becoming aware of the situation, Sara repeatedly tried to get the police to take action, but was ignored. She was eventually made redundant.
And real life Sara appeared on First Dates last night, to date a dog trainer from Holland called Nicky.
When asked by the barman what she was looking for, Sara replied: “somebody nice.”
He then asked: “Guy or girl?” to which she replied: “a girl.”
She continued: “There isn’t very much of a gay scene in Rochdale. It’s kind of part-time gay.”
And speaking to the camera, she added: “You’re allowed to be gay every other Sunday. There will be one pub that opens and it will call itself ‘gay night’.
“Very slim pickings in Rochdale. There are some quite scary women I have to say. [They] often play rugby.
“I’m a working class northern woman so I want somebody who’s a bit street. You’ve got to have that edge, and really look as if they could kick your face in."
When Sara met Nicky, they chatted about her son, and Sara admitted she’d been single for eight years because of being “really involved” in work.
She then told Nicky about the sexual exploitation case she was involved with.
“Children told me that they were being sexually abused every day and that went on for almost ten years before anybody did anything.”
She then continued tearfully to the camera: “I feel as if I’m just coming out of a very difficult dark time. I’m ready to start to live my life again where I haven’t been for such a long time. And just be able to have nice times, and not be so stressed or worried or anxious or angry. Carefree.”
Unfortunately, things didn’t work out with Sara and Nicky.
Nicky told Sara not to take offence from her saying people are what they eat, to which she responded to the camera with: “I’m not even sure if there was a turning point but at some point during the date I kind of thought, ‘I’m not sure’.
And when asked at the end if they’d see each other again, Nicky said: “I’ve got to be really, really honest – I think she’s a great girl, but there’s no spark.”
And Sara added: “Yeah that’s true.”
Nicky then said: “I think we’ll be really good friends; go out dancing and do crazy things, but romantically… no.”
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