Todd Grimshaw has finally got everything he wants after getting engaged to Billy Mayhew. However, Todd's living on borrowed time as Will returns and threatens to destroy everything. We chatted to Gareth Pierce about how Todd tries to keep Will at bay, and what this means for Todd's future on the cobbles.
We've seen Todd do some horrendous things since his return, but Gareth told us that Todd does have a bit of a guilty conscience. "We've tried where possible to give little glimpses of that. He's not enjoying the game, he's not in control of the game in quite the same way as maybe earlier on. I think there is some guilt there, but I also think that Todd is very good at putting that to one side and still being able to function and carry on.
"I've got to get down to the 'why' he's doing some of these things. There's a core of sadness to Todd. He's 35 now, he's heading towards the years where he needs to grow up a bit, and that scares him. In terms of finding a more sympathetic read of some of what he's doing, I think he was at his most settled and happiest when it was him, Billy, and Summer.
"That's what he wants to get back to, because he was able to almost let the mask slip and not have all that front going on, so that's what's motivating him. He really wants to get back to that safe, happy place, but he can't see what he's doing to get there is going so dark."
In an effort to prove his commitment, Todd made the grandest of gestures and proposed to Billy. While the end result is positive, the route to get there didn't go quite as Todd had hoped. "[Todd] still doesn't feel like he's got it over the line to being back together as a happy family, so in almost true Todd style, he thinks he has to do something big and fabulous. That plays out very differently in his head. [He thinks] it's going to be a movie proposal and a happy moment, because he is very much self-centered, and he's used to getting his way. He gets quite a shock."
In the background, Paul has been stewing for some months now, sure that Todd has been scheming behind the scenes. After the proposal, Todd receives a letter with a warning scrawled on it, and he assumes the sender to be Paul. "I think he's definitely underestimating Paul," Gareth said.
"In the back of his head, he knows that Will is probably the only person that can really sink him, and he thinks he's out of the way. I think there's been so many incidents that Todd couldn't have had all this planned out. Occasionally, there's been opportunities that have arisen from the way Paul has reacted to things. Those have given him a sense that Paul's pretty oblivious and easy to manipulate. I really do think that Todd's underestimating Paul and doesn't really expect him to put anything together or unpick what Todd's achieved so far."
Todd believes he can handle Paul, but he is not prepared for the return of Will, the boy he paid to help manipulate Paul. Will starts to blackmail Todd, and Todd knows he has to do whatever it takes to get rid of him. "That jolts him. That's the only loose part of the jigsaw that could come back around. It's a definite threat.
"I think you see Todd almost at his worst in some of his interactions with Will, because he needs Will to be scared. He's absolutely petrified of what Will could do to him if he's not scared."
Keen to really get under Todd's skin, Will befriends Summer, another move that panics Todd. "When he starts to install himself on the inside of their family and domestic life, it is terrifying. Taking aside from how Todd might react to that, that sense of somebody invading your space, what you consider your safe place, it's going to be horrible. Certainly, we've tried to imbue those scenes with a real sense of stress and of Todd being rattled, which you don't necessarily see from Todd that often."
In the midst of his desperation, Todd resorts to stealing money from a customer at the funeral parlour. Seeing Todd hit an all time low, Gareth told us how important it is as an actor to fully commit to the character. "You have to really trust the writers on a show like Corrie with their long-standing characters.
"If you back away from the ugliness of some of the character's actions, then that's your ego as an actor getting involved. You've got to trust and commit fully to showing a not very nice side of someone. It's uncomfortable sometimes for the audience, especially if they also then have a scene where they perhaps like that character. For me, that's the most interesting territory to play, and to watch."
When his first plan fails, Todd resorts to theft again, but this time it's a little bit closer to home, and Paul lands himself in the top suspect position. "It's an opportunity that presents itself again. Todd is clever and he'll manipulate as much as possible, but he's got this awful habit of landing on his feet. That's not anything that Todd's intended, but he's certainly not going to step in and go: 'It wasn't Paul.' It wasn't part of his plan, so he can slightly unburden that guilt because he's got plenty of other guilts to deal with."
Todd is a great example of a character who we love to hate, and lots of viewers are very much still on Team Todd. "It's really lovely and really heartening to see that the audience are split because I think that when I first arrived, we were contending slightly with getting people used to a new actor playing Todd, while also seeing Todd kind of at his worst.
"You get those opportunities to make a more rounded character, and then I think audiences can go on that journey with you a bit more, and also that villainy. There is something sometimes enviable in watching a character that will say some of the things that you might think, but not always have the courage to say yourself. I think people like watching Todd do the devilry for them sometimes."
Todd is in for a rough few weeks as his secrets come dangerously close to being spilled, but might he actually feel better for the truth being revealed? "It's almost like that thing of a criminal wanting to be found out. It'll be awful, but there'll be some actual freedom in everything being potentially out there.
"It might make him re-examine himself because there's a self-awareness that's creeping in with Todd anyway, and he's certainly very self-centered, so maybe he can turn that around to being a bit more aware of some of those reason he is how he is.
"I'm really enjoying playing the undertaker stuff with Tony [Maudesley, who plays George]. I feel as though the absence of a father for Todd can definitely explain a lot of why he is the way he is, and so I like the sense of there being a slightly fatherly connection with George, and he does have the measure of Todd a bit more than Todd thinks, but with a kindness there."
However, fans of Todd's darker side can relax as Gareth assures us he isn't going to become all sweetness and light. "I don't think we're going to see Todd's moral compass completely reset. I think he's always going to be a bit of a player and a bit of a someone who's able to get what he wants out of a situation."
Todd's downfall has been long time in the making, and as it all comes to a head this summer, Gareth told us how people are still rooting for Todd and Billy to work as a couple. "I really hope we've done the brilliant scripts justice. It's really lovely that already we have some people conflicted in terms of rooting for the relationship because like Dan [Brocklebank, who plays Billy] and I were saying the other day, we've been doing it all from two metres. There's only so much eyebrow tension you can give in the sense of how you seduce a character, how you show that closeness without being able to have that tactility and that proximity.
"It's really lovely to see that the audience really have gone on this journey with us, and so hopefully the payoff is greater as well because they're there with you."
As everything unravels for Todd, will he able to get Billy down the aisle, or will he lose everything for good?
Sophie Williams
I'm on Twitter @sophie_writer1
