Toyah's rape by an unseen assailant was played as a whodunit, with Toyah's friend Phil Simmonds later being unveiled as the culprit. Though the performance of Georgia Taylor was praised, the decision to frame the storyline around a "whodunit"-style mystery was lambasted, with the The Mirror and the Daily Record accusing the programme of trivialising the impact of the rape itself. Due to the storyline airing immediately after EastEnders's popular "Who shot Phil Mitchell?" plot, the storyline was interpreted by critics as an attempt by Coronation Street to hit back with a mystery of its own.