Life in Coronation Street will never be the same following yesterday’s dramatic Corriedale crossover with Emmerdale.
A multi-vehicle pile-up on the roads between Weatherfield and Hotten has seen the lives of many of the characters at risk – and there’s devastation in the aftermath.
For Todd Grimshaw (Gareth Pierce), Debbie Webster’s (Sue Devaney) wedding party represented his big chance to escape from the horrifically abusive relationship that he’s found himself in with Theo Silverton (James Cartwright).
Todd had been increasingly subject to Theo’s violent attacks as the abuse ramped up, ending up in a trip to the hospital before Christmas when Theo smashed his head into a mirror.
Through Theo’s manipulation, Todd blamed himself for a lot of things that went on, and because of this and the shame he felt, he kept the abuse quiet for a long time. Finally, his friends started to realise something was badly wrong, and Billy Mayhew (Daniel Brocklebank) in particular suspected that Todd was suffering abuse.
When Todd spilled orange juice down his shirt, and Billy saw the bruises on his body as he washed the shirt, his suspicions were confirmed. Even then, Todd tried to make excuses for Theo.
When Billy found the raw, unedited footage of the night Todd had pushed Theo in self-defence, Todd realised that he needed to escape from the terrifying situation he was in – and he planned to use Debbie’s wedding as cover to make his escape.
At the wedding, Todd asked Billy to take him home so he could collect his things before Theo got back. He got on the minibus with David (Jack P Shepherd), Shona (Julia Goulding), James (Jason Callender) and others as Billy prepared to drive home.
At the last minute, Todd was horrified when he saw Theo walk over and ask if he was leaving without him. There was no option but to let him on the minibus. As Theo went to touch Todd, Billy saw Todd flinch and angrily told Theo to leave him alone.
Billy had to turn his attention to the road, though. Carla Connor (Alison King) running in front of the minibus in a bid to stop him crashing into the Swains meant he had to swerve, but he lost control of the vehicle. In the resulting crash, Billy lost his life.
However, it wasn’t as simple as that. See, Theo had suspected that Billy knew about Todd’s abuse, and he found the perfect opportunity to silence him. As Billy tried to escape the minibus, which was on fire, Theo fastened his seatbelt, trapping him in his seat as the bus exploded.
In the aftermath of the accident, Todd and Summer (Harriet Bibby) were devastated about the loss of Billy and they clung to each other for support in the hospital waiting room.
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Theo was left feeling guilty, although George (Tony Maudsley) hailed him as a hero for trying to save Billy’s life – unaware of what really occurred in the bus.
For Todd, Billy’s loss is enormous. As well as losing his beloved ex-partner and close friend, he’s also lost the person who could have helped him escape from Theo.
In tonight’s episode, Todd admitted to Theo that he had seen the unedited footage and planned to leave him.
With Todd more vulnerable than ever as he dealt with not only his own grief, but Summer’s too, Theo turned up the manipulation tactics as he promised he did everything he could to save Billy.
He really toyed with Todd’s emotions as he insisted that he needed him as much as Summer did, and blamed his behaviour on Todd ‘driving him crazy’.
As Todd begged Theo to ‘stop being horrible’ to him, and promised to stay if he did, our hearts broke. It’s a promise we know Theo won’t be able to keep…