‘He’s so far in, he’s trapped’: Corrie’s Gareth Pierce confirms Todd is ‘too ashamed’ to seek help

Gareth Pierce, who plays Coronation Street’s Todd Grimshaw, has opened up about his character’s terrifying descent into an abusive relationship with Theo Silverton, played by James Cartwright.

Todd is currently in the grip of a domestic abuse storyline, where his partner Theo has been subtly, and now overtly, controlling and physically abusive. As the situation worsens, a special episode will show the disturbing reality of the abuse through a unique, fly-on-the-wall format.

‘The cameras potentially protect Todd from what Theo might do, but I also think he subconsciously wants to start keeping a record of how bad the abuse is becoming. Not necessarily because he intends to show the footage to anybody at this stage, but for his own sanity and perspective.’

‘It has the style of an episode of ’24 Hours In Police Custody’… it actually has the opposite effect where it feels like it brings us closer, like we’re eavesdropping on our characters and seeing something we shouldn’t.’

Gareth also noted that Theo leverages classic emotional manipulation tactics to keep Todd tied down: ‘Theo also in that moment uses a classic gaslighting method of leveraging his own mental health in order to keep Todd in the relationship. “If you leave me, I don’t know what I’ll do…”‘

Gareth believes that Todd, like many survivors of domestic abuse, is wondering how he ended up in this frightening position. ‘I’m sure Todd is wondering the same thing, as many survivors do. Because of Theo’s complicated past and years of denial, Todd made allowances for some of those early indicators of controlling behaviour, and now finds himself in a genuinely dysfunctional relationship, where what is acceptable has been artificially shifted.’

‘In a way, we’re starting to see the first seeds of fight from Todd,’ he says. ‘The flashes of extreme anger and ritual humiliation that we saw around the kebab and milk incidents is spilling over into genuine physical threat and abuse now.’

Gareth stresses the immense importance of tackling the issue of male-on-male domestic violence.

‘Judging by the messages we’re already receiving from survivors, and people seeing parallels in their past relationships, it’s still very much needed. It’s important that people feel seen, and that charities who can offer a way out are well signposted.’

He points out that the organisations who can help are often primarily set up to support women, which makes a story like this on a major soap vital for raising awareness for the LGBTQ+ community. ‘A story like this can carry the message that charities like Stonewall and Galop offer assistance more tailored to the LGBTQ+ community, while simultaneously chipping away at narrow perceptions of masculinity,’ he explains. ‘Violence doesn’t have to be met with more violence; survivors can escape with their own morality intact.’

Catch up on ITVX, and for classic visits to Corrie, these episodes air weekdays on ITV3 as well as on YouTube.