‘It’s all we ever wanted,’ says Hollyoaks star, before calling for women to stand together

Lysette Anthony welcomed the beginning of legal proceedings against Harvey Weinstein as she sported a #MeToo slogan on her wrist at the British Soap Awards.

The Hollyoaks star is one of dozens of women who have made allegations against the movie mogul and said he needed be tried. She has said that she told the Metropolitan police she was attacked by him in her London home in the late 1980s.

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Speaking before the awards, Anthony welcomed the start of court proceedings against the producer in the US as she called for women to stand together.

She told the Press Association: “Time is up – what I’m happy about is that it stops being trial by Twitter and justice gets due course. It’s what it’s all about, it’s all any of us, we’ve ever wanted. I’m telling the truth, but he needs the chance to be tried.”

Anthony said dozens of other accusers had stories similar to hers. She compared the Time’s Up and Me Too movements to the Arab spring, adding: “I don’t mean to be disrespectful, because people died with the Arab spring, but that’s the purpose of Twitter – it is lone voices in the wilderness being heard, and that’s the most important thing.”

Coronation Street star Nicola Thorp and Doctors actor Elisabeth Dermot Walsh supported Time’s Up on the awards red carpet, with the latter wearing a pin on her dress. Thorp said: “I’m so proud that actresses, not just in the UK but over the pond, have really been highlighting the issue with sexual harassment, not just in entertainment but in all lines of work.

“I really think this is the beginning of a revolution, not just in teaching and educating people on how and how not to behave, but also empowering them so they feel they can speak out – and men [too], if they feel like they have been victimised in such a way.”

Weinstein has been indicted on rape and criminal sex act charges in New York. The film producer was charged in May on two counts of rape and one of a criminal sexual act for alleged incidents involving two women. He has repeatedly denied allegations of non-consensual sex and intends to plead not guilty to the charges.