THE NEW TODD 4 OTHER FAMOUS SOAP SWAPS I feel right athome on the Street
ORIGINAL 90s
Jo Warne
Dawn Acton
MOODY Darius Perkins
KIND
GDonna Reed
PEGGY MITCHELL
The queen of the Queen Vic, Barbara Windsor’s Peggy still had the brassy charms of her Carry On days. But she was a much more glamorous version of the original Peg played by Jo Warne for 10 episodes, three years before Babs took over. It was a hard paper round in reverse.
TRACY BARLOW
CORRIE fans know Tracy is two-faced but she has had four faces. As a baby, the character was played by Christabel Finch before Holly Chamarette took on the rolw and then Dawn Acton from 1988 to 1999. Kate Ford has been Tracy since 2002, turning her into Weatherfield’s super-bitch.
Soap actor delighted to take over role of drama’s gay icon after being welcomed on to set by co-stars
ARETH Pierce is thrilled to be joining the cast of Coronation Street – because it’s the first job he has had that’s led to his parents being congratulated.
The 39-year-old Welsh actor will this Friday take over the role of Todd Grimshaw.
Weatherfield’s first openly gay character was played by Bruno Langley for 17 years but his contract with the soap was terminated in 2017 after a woman accused him of sexual assault and harassment. He was later charged with two counts of sexual assault which he pleaded guilty to.
Gareth, originally from Pwllheli, has appeared in Sky One’s Stella, Netflix drama Hinterland, in radio soap The Archers and in several Welsh shows.
But he admitted joining Corrie felt “like coming home”.
He said: “Corrie was a massive show for us as a family growing up in Wales. Two generations back, my family is from Manchester so it was always important to us.
“It felt nostalgic and comforting, like coming home, to start working here. It’s a lovely place to work.
“It’s the first job where it’s not my
CARRY ON
Barbara
BLOND Jason Donovan
ROCK mum and dad telling everyone what I am doing – it’s been half the town coming up to them. There have been so many well-wishers.”
The actor left his home town as a 10-year-old when his dad, who worked in the Army, was relocated to Yorkshire.
When he turned 18, he returned to Wales to study at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff and now splits his time between the Welsh city and Manchester.
Gareth auditioned for Todd before lockdown and, like many in the entertainment industry, was worried about getting work as the pandemic kept TV shows from being made. The actor knows just what a big deal it is snagging such a high-profile job.
He said: “I’m just really excited starting on Corrie – it is an uncertain
time in the acting industry and was for me a couple of months ago.
“I am aware of how privileged I am to even be in work. It’s such an exciting project, it’s great. It seems a long time ago since the casting process started, it was before lockdown and back in July I was told I was still in the mix.” areth isn’t the first actor to take over a role previously played by someone else. But the circumstances of how the original actor left the show and the character’s status as a gay icon will draw more attention than most of soap’s revolving faces.
Gareth is insistent he won’t impersonate Langley’s Todd, although he has tried to find the characteristics that made him a Weatherfield villain.
He said: “I can take a lot of confidence from Kate Ford and Ben Price who were cast to play roles played by someone else – it is an accepted convention in soap but I can see how it might be daunting.
“I watched footage ahead of the screen test as I wanted to drill down to the core characteristics of Todd – cheekiness, some arrogance, he’s a bit of a chameleon and able to be different with people.
“Now it’s about taking Todd forward now and bringing what I can to the
Gcharacter. I didn’t want to just be an impersonation.”
After Langley’s sacking, the soap quickly wrote a scene explaining that Todd had gone on the run after assaulting a police officer and his return will show that he is still in trouble – but of a differentnt kind. He’s been on the run for almost three years but returns to the cobbles on Friday and will be reunited with his mum Eileen Grimshaw, played by Sue Cleaver. She has returned from her trip to Thailandand to visit her eldest son Jason (Ryan Thomas).
Whileile she’s been away, Todd’s old flame Billy Mayhew and Sean Tully hired a private investigator, who found out Todd and his friend Safia had ripped off a gangster and that Todd has gone too ground.
Afterr a breakin, Eileeneen finds a notee left by Todd odd asking ng her to o meet him at an old warehouse. As well as Sue, Daniel Brocklebank, who plays Todd’s old flame and vicar Billy, has been a great support to Gareth. Both were part of the audition process and both felt the Welsh actor had the essence of Todd. Which, for Sue, is “the bad boy but with the very lovable and vulnerable side”. Gareth said: “Dan and Sue have been brilliantbr – that relationship stastarted early. “We have becomebe friends real ly quickquickly and that helps cement the on-screen relationships.” From being worriedwo about work during the pandepandemic, Gareth will now be run off hihis feet – juggling Corrie with voicingvo Gareth Moss in BBC RRadio 4’s soap The Archers.Archer He said: “The Archers is backba recording in Birmingham.Birm I am doingdoin a lot of driving at the moment.” CoronationC Street will be airing Todd’s retreturn on Friday, STV at 7.30pm.