With the revelation about Kit possibly being his real dad, actor Ryan Mulvey has provided insight into Brody’s inner turmoil, his feelings toward Kit, and the desperate lengths he’ll go to keep his fractured family together.
Speaking about the initial impact of the news, “It’s been huge for Brody; a massive bombshell has been dropped on him. I don’t think he can really comprehend that his dad is not who he thought he was, that his biological dad might not be his dad,” Ryan explained. “I think he’s heartbroken because he’s lost someone that he’s loved all his life.” But the devastation doesn’t stop there for the troubled teen. The potential implications for his relationship with his sisters, who are “the best thing in his life,” are also weighing heavily on him. Ryan added, “It kind of makes it feel false. It feels like his life has been shattered in front of his eyes, and so he’s not dealing with it very well. He’s turned to drinking, and I think it’s definitely making his behavior worse because it’s always in his brain.”
It’s clear that Ryan has a lot of empathy for his character. “Yeah, obviously I’m going to be biased, but yes I feel sorry for him. He’s a kid, he’s trying to navigate life like every teenager is, but then he also has the added confusion of trying to step up and be a parent at 17, trying to look after two younger sisters, a mum who’s going off the rails, and hold his family together. But then he’s also got the normal teenage struggles of trying to make friends, girlfriends, finding his own path. It’s not easy being a teenager and then added with all these other stresses, it’s feeling like it’s impossible. It’s a lot for him.”
This week, the drama escalates as Brody discovers his father is planning a prison break. Is this something Brody wants to be involved in? “It’s a combination of everything, but he’s definitely desperate to keep his family together. He feels like it’s the one thing he can do. He’s promised his mum; he’s promised his dad that looking after the family is now his job, and that’s why he’s doing everything to keep them together. He’ll definitely feel like a failure if he can’t keep them together.”
“He feels like that’s his duty as a brother, his duty as a man, to keep that together. He has got morals and he does know it’s wrong, but he’ll definitely blindside that to try keep his family together and keep his loved ones close.”
Looking ahead, would Ryan like to see Brody forge a relationship with Kit? “It’s a great dynamic, his dad being a policeman and Brody the way he is, always getting into trouble, I love working with Jacob. It’s great because there’s so many dramatic scenes that we can play of finding out he’s his dad and all the drama and emotion around that. There’s probably a lot of resentment there for him as well.”
But it’s not all high drama. Ryan also sees potential for more light-hearted scenes: “There’s also just the average dad and lad scenes that would be exciting to do, say, like involving girls, throwing a house party, there’s just so many different routes we could do with the dad and son which is really exciting to come.”
Having been on the cobbles for seven months, Ryan is clearly loving his time on Coronation Street. “Yeah, it’s really good, it’s a madhouse but a great house. Everyone’s lovely, I know everyone says it, but it is like a family, you’ve got your crazy cousins, those you look up to. Everyone’s creative and it’s just a wonderful place to be.”
Coronation Street airs on ITV1