Corrie airs at 8.30pm on ITV1
As Todd approaches the day of the marathon, how is he feeling? We’ve seen him push himself to the edge at times so to then miss the race (unbeknownst to him due to Theo’s sabotage) does that hit him hard? Does he feel like he’s let everyone down?
It’s another one of those really humiliating moments for Todd where he feels like he’s let people down. At the start he definitely wasn’t a runner but he found this steely determination that we wish he was channelling towards Theo. He’s maybe been channelling it into this challenge in a weird way. Maybe this long-term goal and focus was exactly what Todd needed. It means he’s definitely putting quite a lot of pressure on the event, so for it to all fall away and feel like he’s let everybody down is devastating for him. Then having to share that sense that he’s let people down with all of his nearest and dearest is doubly tough.
Theo really plays on these feelings, making out he’s there for Todd, it’s not his fault, pulling him in for a hug. Does it have the desired effect for Theo? Does it draw Todd back in?
Yeah it does, sadly in a way where he doesn’t even have to be that active in it. I think Theo’s set that up. It’s just about getting Todd to somewhere vulnerable again so that he can be the one with his arm around his shoulder. It’s horrible to watch because Todd just thinks it’s his fault. All too often that’s something that happens in these types of relationships, that self-blame element.
We see George this week really starting to recognise that Todd isn’t in a healthy relationship. He tries to broach this with Todd, and suggests that Theo is no good for him, how does Todd react to that?
It’s total denial, which is probably quite common in these sorts of relationships, all mixed up in shame. George is seeing past him, seeing into his friend’s experience, even if he doesn’t know the full extent of it. I think sometimes when we’re seen, we can either crumble and admit how bad things are, or the defences go up and Todd almost campaigns for Theo. It’s the place Theo has actually got Todd to, where sometimes Todd will do the campaigning on Theo’s behalf.
Can Todd see a way out?
I think Todd is starting to realise he’s trapped in something very destructive but what comes with that is a certain shame and humiliation. Also sadly he’s so deep into it it’s become hard to see a way out.
How does Todd feel when he arrives at the registry office to discover it’s his own wedding, sprung on him by Theo?
I think in that moment, he’s internally horrified. Maybe some part of him is weirdly flattered, that someone wants to marry him and has those big feelings for him. I think Todd has definitely wrestled with the high emotion delivered towards him, even when negative, he’s flattered in some quite twisted way. There’s this horrible sense of smiling but the eyes are absolutely dead. It was an interesting dynamic to play. People wonder why Todd hasn’t left yet, but I think Theo’s been working with so many fronts to deconstruct Todd’s personality and also to create isolation in the relationship.
He’s actively cut him off from his closest people but also made him reliant on Theo as well, with the financial control, the body shaming, fitness bullying. It all serves to deconstruct his confidence and personality, but it also serves to make him really feel like there’s no way out. The stakes are really raised again, after Corriedale there was a massive moment of volatility and violence from Theo but also a sense that Todd might be finally getting out of it.
But then there was a lull, periods where it feels like still waters and Todd maybe thinks that was the last time. But unfortunately with that type of character, not just a narcissist but effectively a sociopath, the danger will return and the wedding is another way to try to trap Todd.
How did you feel when you read the scripts and discovered Todd was going to be ambushed with a wedding? How do you think the viewers will react?
It just raises the stakes again. I think when the viewers see this kind of marital ambush, they’re going to be thinking, how can that even come about? Surely you can’t get married by mistake! As an actor it can be hard to process sometimes, like when Todd proposed to Theo not long after the special episode when we really saw Theo’s physical abuse. You need to commit fully to a sense that Todd’s hit rock bottom or that his eyes are suddenly open.
Whatever happens there will still be these erratic decisions because that’s what this type of abuse can do. But that’s the stuff I love, the challenge of tracking the route, however unpredictable and hopefully finding a truthful performance. What I’m always aspiring to is for it to feel real.
Whatever happens with the wedding, George is not letting this go, and when he overhears Theo making abusive comments, George is really on his back. Do you think Todd is secretly relieved to have someone in his corner or does he just want George to go away and keep quiet?
I think it’s definitely a mixture of feelings. I think that increasingly being seen by someone that you love starts to chip through. Todd obviously has such a mixture of feelings towards Theo and they’re all starting to collide. I can imagine that his stress levels and nervous system are at melting point. Todd is being pulled in so many directions that there’s going to be a private part of him hoping that someone could just save him and take him out of the situation.
But also maybe there’s still some part of him fighting for the relationship itself, thinking maybe it’s still fixable. Then there’s another part of him wishing that he could extricate himself from it. He just can’t seem to summon that strength and that’s a horrible feeling at a point where your confidence is at its lowest.
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