The past couple of months have been truly awful for Gary and his family - how is he doing?
It’s definitely been a very tricky time for them all. From Gary’s point of view he’s having to look after both Maria and Liam, as well as being concerned about the state of his relationship with Maria, especially with how worried Maria has been about Liam and understandably so. Gary and Maria have different views on how they should be helping Liam which hasn’t helped.
It must have really hurt him when Maria insinuated that Gary wasn’t Liam’s real dad. How did he feel about that?
Yeah, that was really hard and affected him massively. I think Gary has always seen himself as a real father figure to Liam and especially with what they have been through in the last few months, to hear Maria say that really cut him deep. It was the last thing that Gary wanted and needed to hear at that point.
Gary’s actually been quite level headed with everything in comparison to what he used to be like which is a surprise! Do you think he has matured now?
100% yeah! I’m hoping that the last couple of years has been Gary growing up a little bit. It’s been really nice to play that more caring side. Even though, when he’s showing those hot headed moments, it’s more to try and play the Robin Hood character where he’s doing it to the bad people and trying to give the baddies what they deserve as opposed to just doing it because he’s hot headed. Hopefully this is how things will continue because I certainly like playing that more grown up version of Gary now. He certainly seems to have become a more rounded character and the reaction from the public has definitely been more appreciative of this.
Gary is always a family first type of person. How will he feel to realise that whilst he was preoccupied with Sarah, Liam had taken an overdose?
The whole Gary and Sarah thing is something that is always there and unfortunately, it had to her that he was with when such a big thing has happened but you know, that’s the way that Gary’s life tends to go. Gary is genuinely devastated when he finds out what has happened. He didn’t realise that Liam was going to be on his own and everything had just gone wrong.
Do you think Gary will admit to Maria where he actually was?
I think he will intend to let that one lie. It obviously didn’t go well last time when Maria caught them together and I guess he doesn’t want things to blow up. That stress is also the last thing Maria needs on top of everything else, so I think he will try to take matters into his own hands and keep that to himself.
How did Gary feel initially when Maria admitted to having a hidden camera, purely to watch Liam, but caught him and Sarah together?
His first thought was definitely shock but that quickly followed with panic to what Maria had actually seen after what had happened with Sarah making a drunken pass. He managed to get away with it the first time round but I guess in soapland you always get caught in the end! Maria is always one step ahead of the game and puts the camera back, which then leads to Gary and Sarah being caught again. I actually loved filming this scene because obviously I knew what was going to happen and that we were going to get caught, but the timing of Maria walking in was brilliant and even made everyone cringe.
Do you think Maria is pushing Gary away with her desperate actions?
Absolutely. I think that given the nature of what’s going on, it is understandable that Maria is acting like this. Maria just wants the best for Liam and in doing so, it’s to the detriment of her relationship with Gary. Gary knows and understands that Liam has to come first but as I said, Gary and Maria don’t always agree on how they should proceed to help Liam and I think that this is the main cause of their problems.
Is Gary happy with Maria?
I do think he is happy with Maria. They have been through a lot and the family unit has been formed especially with Jake there as well. I think he’s got the family unit that he’s always wanted. Obviously when something as big as this happens, it just throws that spanner in the works. At this moment, I don’t think anyone could be truly happy with everything that’s going on, so it really has thrown their relationship and it will be interesting to see how they can come through this, or not...
Do you think deep down Gary could have any unresolved feelings for Sarah?
I’ve always said the way that Gary and Sarah’s relationship came to an end years ago was a real shame. They were really happy with each other and had been through a lot. They were a really good couple and from a personal point of view, it was a really happy time at work. I thoroughly enjoyed those years working with the Platts and got really nice storylines out of it. I guess there will always be something lingering due to what they went through. They both know each of their deepest, darkest secrets and are probably the only people that know them. I think they will always have that feeling for each other deep down no matter what happens.
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