For the love of Todd!

We talk to stars Sue Cleaver and Gareth Pierce about Corrie’s ‘new look’

- ALISON SLADE

CORONATION STREET MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY / ITV / TIMES VARY / SOAP

Eileen Grimshaw has had a quiet year so far, but that’s all about to change following the return of younger son Todd. The former golden child-turned-cobbles schemer is back on home soil following three years on the run after assaulting a police officer.

It’s a new chapter in more ways than one, for Welsh actor Gareth Pierce – until now best known for playing villain Lenny Mack in Sky One comedy drama Stella, and currently playing builder Gavin Moss in BBC Radio 4 soap The Archers – takes over the role from Bruno Langley, who played troublesome Todd between 2001 and 2017.

We caught up with Gareth, 39, and co-star Sue Cleaver, 57, AKA Eileen, to find out more…

Welcome to Weatherfield, Gareth! Can you tell us how you have ended up on the cobbles, filling Todd’s shoes?

GARETH: I self-taped an audition earlier in the year, and then lockdown happened and I was homeschooling my four-year-old daughter... which was an adventure! Then, in early July, Corrie got in touch and said I was still in the mix. There were two screen tests, and there was a real sense of relief when I got the call to say it had gone my way. I was in the hot tub in my back garden at the time, which sounds very decadent! My family are over the moon. Corrie was a massive show for me growing up in north Wales, and going back two generations on my mum’s side, my family is from Manchester. So, in a weird way, it feels like coming home.

How have you approached playing such a well-established character?