Todd Grimshaw’s (Gareth Pierce) life right now in Coronation Street is utter hell. He’s trapped in a nightmarish relationship with vile abuser, Theo Silverton (James Cartwright), who’s campaign of coercive control and violence has left him broken and isolated.
What started with subtle manipulation; attempting to cut Todd off from his friends and control where he goes has given way to violence, cheating and full scale torture, amid the revelation that this behaviour isn’t new to Theo.
A special episode, shown through the lens of security cameras, CCTV and bodycam footage gave fans a grim insight into Todd’s reality.
Amid gaslighting, cruel comments about Todd’s diet and physical violence, the revelation that Theo was tracking Todd led to him finally fighting back and asking Theo to leave.
Furious Theo goaded Todd into a fight, and when Todd tried to shove him away, Theo collided with a coffee table, rendering him unconscious leading to his arrest. Theo, of course, expertly manipulated Todd into believing that he was at fault.
Without a job and separated from his main sources of support, namely Billy Mayhew (Daniel Brocklebank), George Shuttleworth (Tony Maudsley) and Sarah Platt (Tina O’Brien), and suspected by the police of being an abuser himself, it appears that Todd has really reached rock bottom.
While attending the Corriedale premier, Gareth shared his thoughts on his alter-egos current predicament: ‘They don’t always tell us the full arc of a story like this, so as an actor, you’ve got to sometimes try to work out when rock bottom might be. I did feel like that was maybe in last nights episode.’
On Todd finally standing up to Theo before finding himself in police custody, Gareth mused: ‘Obviously what’s very sad about that is that in that moment where he fights back, which, I suppose, some viewers will have been willing him to do anyway.
‘He’s stayed stoic for a long time – he does push back and, sadly, the situation actually gets worse and Todd’s maybe doubly trapped now.’
Set to play a role in the soap event of the century, Corriedale, a crossover between ITV’s premiere soaps, Coronation Street and Emmerdale, Gareth spoke on his enthusiasm for the special episode: ‘It was super exciting, you know? Obviously to hear that it’s one of those brilliant stunt and set pieces.
‘The familiarity of the Corrie set is great, but when they do say you’re going out on location, that’s always exciting.
‘Like the tram crash on Corrie, the plane crash on Emmerdale, we’re actually giving you a whole new crash and crisis of their collective own!’
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We know Corriedale will feature a mammoth car pile up, putting the lives of numerous characters from both shows in mortal danger.
When pressed about his involvement in the carnage, Gareth was a little coy, though did reveal that he had an easier time of it then some of the other characters!
‘Todd is initially unconscious in the immediate aftermath, so I could start slow and easy, really.
‘There was one bit where we needed everyone to do cut aways of their reactions to the explosion and my big challenge was to not react to the explosion because I was unconscious, and then Tracy Barlow jumped on top of me, but that’s another story…’
Full list of Corriedale cast members and characters
Coronation Street
- Sally Carman-Duttine as Abi Webster
- Tanisha Gorey as Asha Alahan
- Amy Cudden as Becky Swain
- Sydney Martin as Betsy Swain
- Daniel Brocklebank as Billy Mayhew
- Jonathan Howard as Carl Webster
- Alison King as Carla Connor
- Claire Sweeney as Cassie Plummer
- Jack P Shepherd as David Platt
- Sue Devaney as Debbie Webster
- Jason Callender as James Bailey
- Olivia Frances-Brown as Jodie
- William Roache as Ken Barlow
- Michael Le Vell as Kevin Webster
- Jacob Roberts as Kit Green
- Vicky Myers as Lisa Swain
- Vinta Morgan as Ronnie Bailey
- Tina O’Brien as Sarah Platt
- Julia Goulding as Shona Platt
- Simon Gregson as Steve McDonald
- Harriet Bibby as Summer Spellman
- James Cartwright as Theo Silverton
- Joe Duttine as Tim Metcalfe
- Gareth Pierce as Todd Grimshaw
- Kate Ford as Tracy Barlow
Emmerdale
- Danny Miller as Aaron Dingle
- Jeff Hordley as Cain Dingle
- Emma Atkins as Charity Dingle
- Lucy Pargeter as Chas Dingle
- Christopher Chittell as Eric Pollard
- Joe-Warren Plant as Jacob Gallagher
- Christopher Bisson as Jai Sharma
- Ned Porteous as Joe Tate
- Oliver Farnworth as John Sugden
- Jonny McPherson as Liam Cavanagh
- Lawrence Robb as Mackenzie Boyd
- Natalie J Robb as Moira Dingle
- Joe Absolom as Ray Walters
- Ryan Hawley as Robert Sugden
- Katie Hill as Sarah Sugden
- Isabel Hodgins as Victoria Sugden