‘Phelan’s a sick puppy’
Connor Mcintyre on Phelan’s master plan
Calling Pat Phelan a psycho isn’t breaking news, but even by his standards, keeping Andy Carver chained up in the cellar of a derelict building is insane. After Andy’s attempts to throttle Phelan go badly wrong, Andy fears for his life and things turn even more sinister next week. Begging Phelan to get him medicine for his infected wound, Phelan agrees – only to dig a hole in the garden. Connor Mcintyre explains what’s going on in Phelan’s warped mind.…
What did you think when you found out Phelan didn’t kill Andy, but had him hostage?
“Well, how fantastic!” was my first thought. “Is he dead, isn’t he dead?” It’s a question that’s been raised on social media a lot. So, yeah, excited.
Were you happy it was a secret?
Yes, it’s wonderful. All the subterfuge is great, because it’s entirely in keeping with what we’re doing. I’ve never seen security like that: decoys, ninjas, everything. It has been great fun. Phelan is a great character to play, but this is on another level.
Why hasn’t he killed Andy?
The further we go with this character, the more we realise he’s suffering with narcissistic personality disorder. This is a guy whose relationships are all about power. He’s not a well man, he’s a sick puppy in many ways, so what’s the next step? We haven’t seen him kill yet…
A lot was made of Phelan’s black eye – now we know it’s to do with Andy. Was the speculation fun?
It was absolutely brilliant! And, of course, the responses have been amazing because people go, “Have I missed an episode? Where did that come from?” And I love the speculation about the fact that in real life I had got a black eye, so they just had to incorporate it into filming.
What was it like filming in that set? Was it very tense?
Absolutely, no question. That place is all about atmosphere, when we’re sat in that space silently, in the relationship that we’ve got, it’s quite disturbing. Imagine poor Andy’s position is me berating him, bullying him, screaming at him, and then sitting quite quietly and discussing chocolate eclairs, so he has to judge every moment and guess Phelan’s mood.
Various people are starting to suspect Phelan of something. Is he in panic mode now?
No doubt! Nicola knows about the house and that he is up to something, which means Eileen is going to know because they’re making up a tag team. And then some other things start to happen with Andy, so the pressure is starting to build.