Coronation Street star Gareth Pierce teased “peril” for his character, Todd Grimshaw, amid an “unprecedented” coercive control plot.

Soap viewers will know that Todd first crossed paths with scaffolder Theo Silverton (James Cartwright) back in March, with the pair quickly hitting it off.

It was later revealed that Theo was married to Danielle (Natalie Anderson), with the former couple sharing two children. After his relationship with Todd was uncovered, Theo soon found himself ostracised by his family.

To make matters worse, Danielle began dating Noah Hedley (Richard Winsor), who notably performed conversion therapy on Theo when he was younger.

In recent scenes, Theo has struggled to control his anger, with the scaffolder letting most of his frustration out on his partner.

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Theo has tried to isolate Todd from his friends and family, as well as physically lashing out at him. And it seems that trouble is set to continue for the pair.

Speaking on ITV’s Lorraine on Tuesday (September 23), Todd star Gareth Pierce explained that his character will go on a “journey” amid the dark storyline.

“There needs to be some peril, doesn’t there, in our big storylines. I don’t want to give you any spoilers, but there’s a fair journey to go,” he said.

“It’s fairly unprecedented that [we’re showing coercive control] in a same-sex relationship. That’s the thing, so many themes of that kind of control are universal, whether it’s a straight or same-sex relationship.”

The actor continued: “We’ve been let into that backstory of Theo and some of his sources of shame and internalised homophobia. Then maybe there’s been a period where Todd certainly, and the audience potentially as well, are wondering if it’s fixable.

“But I think it’s dawning on the audience, definitely and hopefully, eventually, Todd.”

Gareth then revealed that he is often stopped in the supermarket by fans who tell him, “Todd needs to get out of this.”

The star went on to detail the support he’s received from several LGBTQ+ charities to help him accurately portray coercive control within a same-sex relationship.

“Gallop and Stonewall are two of the main charities that have been talking to us about the ways that same-sex domestic abuse and coercive control could be slightly different from those in a straight relationship,” he said.

“Like I said, so many of the ways are universal, isolating from friends and family, some financial control, there’s some body shaming that’s already starting to happen on screen now.

“There are also ways that perhaps a partner might use their partner’s sexuality to kind of shame them.”

During Monday (September 22) night’s episode, Theo and Todd arrived at the family court for Theo’s hearing.

Despite Todd losing his temper at Noah during the proceedings, Theo was granted shared custody of his children, which Danielle tried to appeal.

Noah later turned up at the Bistro to taunt Todd and Theo with several homophobic comments. Later, the couple were shocked to learn that Noah had died of a heart attack at home, with Danielle instantly blaming Theo. What will happen next?

Coronation Street airs at 8pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday on ITV1 and is available to stream from 7am on ITVX

If you were affected by the issues raised in this story, organisations which can offer help include Galop, Stonewall and SafeLives