Georgia Scholes, the actor known for playing Erin Fischer in the ITV crime series The Bay, has spoken about being the victim of “upskirting” during a recent night out.
Scholes, 25, had been out in Manchester on Saturday with her sister when the incident occurred; the actor wrote about it on Instagram, having reported it to the police.
“Just after 8.30pm me and my sister left a restaurant in Spinningfields,” she recalled. “On our way up the steps back up to Deansgate, two males followed us up the stairs, weirdly very, very close – I mean basically shoulder-to-shoulder close.
“Which at the time I thought was odd, especially as me and my sister were the only two people on the staircase. So why were they so close to us?”
Scholes said the men then walked in front of her, prompting to her remark to her sister that something “wasn’t right”.
“One of the males had his phone in his hand, held down by his leg, angled towards us. My heart quite literally sank,” she continued.
“I walked around the back of them and saw the male’s phone was recording us the whole time walking up the stairs. It then made sense why they now walked up directly touching, behind us up the stairs. He’d recorded up my dress.”
She claims that the man then refused calls to delete the footage; Scholes and her sister sought help from a number of security guards and passersby in order to contact the police, with a bouncer eventually helping them detain one of the men and wait for police.
“Upskirting” – the common term for taking a picture underneath a person’s clothing without their permission – has been its own specific criminal offfence in England and Wales since 2019, when the Voyeurism (Offences) Act was passed as an amendment to the Sexual Offences Act of 2003.
Those found guilty of upskirting can face two years in prison, with most serious offenders being placed on the sex offenders register.
Scholes added that her night had been “tarnished ad ruined” by the incident.
“I didn't get a single picture of me being Georgia, having fun and being with no responsibilities other than me,” she said. “Sad because my faith in humanity has gone, faith in where I come from and my people has gone.
“Sad because I just wanted to have a nice night. Sad at how scary it is that even when sober you're so, so vulnerable. No one is safe.”
A spokesperson for the Greater Manchester Police told The Independent: “Two men, aged in their twenties and thirties, have been arrested on suspicion of voyeurism following an alleged incident on Deansgate on Saturday 19 September 2026.
“Both men have been released on bail pending further enquiries.”
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