Is this the end for Gary?

As his character lies in a coma, Mikey North on why he’s risked his life to save Sarah

Gary Windass is left fighting for his life this week when he’s hit by a speeding car while saving his exgirlfriend Sarah Platt. The shock accident happens as the net closes in on Gary over his involvement in the death of violent loan shark Rick. Gary killed Rick in self-defence and buried him in the woods last year after the ruthless gangster tried to whack him with a shovel.

Fearing that suspicious Sarah is about to report him to the police, Gary chases his former flame down the street before pushing her out of the way of the car, which hits him instead.

While Sarah tries to convince everyone it was a freak accident, her boyfriend Adam is suspicious, and according to actor Mikey North, who plays Gary, he has every right to be.

‘Gary sees a car coming and Sarah hasn’t moved so he automatically sacrifices himself by pushing her out of the way,’ says Mikey.

‘He takes the hit from the car and is out cold. If it had hit Sarah and she had died, she could have taken Gary’s secret to her grave, but he chose to save her over himself, which he’s done before... that must be true love.’

Gary’s terrified his secret is at risk of coming out and is ‘spiralling out of control’, says Mikey, who’s 33 and a married father-of-two.

‘There are times when he believes he can get away with anything, but he has paranoid moments where he thinks it’s all going to catch up with him,’ he adds.

That paranoia grows when Bernie finds Rick’s watch while metal detecting in the woods and sells it to Sarah. When Gary convinces Bernie to buy it back for him, Sarah ‘puts two and two together and demands to know what happened’, says Mikey.

With Gary in a coma, Sarah tells the police it was pure coincidence that he happened to be there when she stepped in front of the car.

‘Gary assumes Sarah will tell Adam her suspicions,’ says Mikey, ‘and with Gary’s wedding to Maria coming up he’s terrified it will all come out on his special day. He’s going to become hell-bent on finding out what Adam knows. That’s his next mission… if he survives!’

Gary’s accident is the first stunt Corrie’s performed since lockdown ended, and Mikey is proud to say no stuntman was required. ‘I got to ride on the bonnet of the car, which was fun,’ he says.

‘I was pleased to have the opportunity to do the stunt myself because I Gary is hit by the car, and (below) Sarah looks on in horror as Gary lies unconscious enjoy that part of the job but have never done a car stunt before.

‘The car was going at a decent speed and I had to be on the bonnet and then dive onto the protective crashmats, so that was a new thing for me – and I loved it.

‘The only part that was tricky was the scene where Gary has to push Sarah out of the way of the car, which we changed to adhere to the two-metre social distancing rule. We used a dummy that was dressed up like Sarah, which is ironic as poor Tina O’brien, who plays Sarah, has had to act with a dummy – me – for years!’

Gary’s rarely far from trouble and Mikey insists he wouldn’t have it any other way. ‘He always finds himself in the wrong situation. ‘Gary thinks he’s doing the right thing, but it always seems to go wrong,’ says Mikey. ‘Even though he can be unpleasant at times, it’s always initially with a good intention at heart. I don’t think he’s beyond redemption – yet.’ ■