Coronation Street is said to be planning a storyline warning of the dangers of internet chatrooms.

A report in The Times this week said that Government officials had been helping the ITV soap's scriptwriters about the perils of paedophiles who use the web to prey on children.

The new storyline, involving teenage mum Sarah Louise Platt, played by Tina O'Brien, is set to being next month.

A Granada spokeswoman told the paper: "Because there is no actual offence of pretending to be what you're not online, we have written in the frustration of Sarah Louise's mother at being unable to see the man arrested."