Tyrone & Fiz’s shock split
Corrie’s Alan Halsall lifts the lid on Weather eld’s shock split...
Had you asked us to put money on the Corrie couple most likely to last, we would have bet the lot on Tyrone and Fiz. Happily ensconced in Jack and Vera’s old house with their girls, the dependable duo seemed destined to clock up decades of domestic bliss together. Well, until Tyrone fell for lodger Alina, that is!
This week, Ty does the unthinkable and confesses that he’s in love with the young Romanian girl, breaks up with Fiz and moves out of the family home. Heaven knows what Evelyn’s going to say – but Coronation Street star Alan Halsall admits that he’s bracing himself for a backlash…
“I’m sure I’ll get clubbed round the ear in Tesco a few times for this!” laughs Alan, who is happily coupled up with ex-Corrie co-star Tisha Merry (Steph Britton). “This is a big twist for me, and for the audience. I hope people will be spitting out their tea on Monday night going, ‘Oooh! What’s he doing now?’!”
Last week, furious Fiz demanded that Tyrone tell Alina to leave the Street and stay away from them. However, Ty can’t help but set the record straight by assuring Alina that he doesn’t want her to go. Things get more heated when an immigration officer arrives after receiving a tip-off that Alina is committing tax fraud.
Convinced it’s Fiz’s doing, Tyrone berates his partner, and the furious row soon leads to their break-up.
“I think Tyrone and Fiz have been okay, plodding along, but that’s the point – they’ve lost their spark,” shares Alan. “It’s not that they have fallen out of love: they absolutely do love each other, just not in the right way. Life has taken over, and their relationship has taken a back seat, which happens to so many of us.”
There’s also the small matter of Ty being madly in lust with gorgeous Alina. When he tells Fiz that he’s in love with their former lodger, it’s the death knell to their relationship. But is Tyrone making a big mistake?
“Tyrone has had his head turned by an attractive girl, and he really wasn’t expecting that,” admits Alan. “He’s caught up in a whirlwind of excitement. Tyrone isn’t the greatest thinker at the best of times, and I don’t reckon he’s thinking too far forward. This excitement is something he hasn’t felt in a long time, and he’s happy being taken along for the ride!”
This is obviously going to cause all manner of heartache for little Ruby and Hope, but it looks as though Tyrone is going to follow his heart and be with Alina. So what did Alan think when he was first told that he would be going from loveable
stalwart to heartbreaker?
“I was shocked!” he tells us. “But then I started thinking about my own selfish things, because Jennie McAlpine [Fiz] and I have known each other for 20 years, and there’s not a day goes by that I don’t love working with her. She’s the most professional actor and a joy to work with. But we both want to be part of big stories, and this is certainly one of those!”
It’s going to be interesting to see Ty being the bad guy because, throughout his Corrie career, he’s been the person audiences have rooted for. We backed him against terrible mum Jackie. We were outraged for him when Molly cheated, and we hated violent Kirsty for abusing him. This time, however, the blame lies solely with Ty…
“Jennie always says Tyrone could get away with murder, but I don’t think he will this time,” muses Alan. “People tend to see the softer side of Tyrone, and I think that comes from the old Jack and Vera days of them loving him.”
It’s the first time in 23 years that Tyrone will be seen in a bad light, but Alan says that he welcomes this new challenge, and hopes to clock up many more years on the Street.
“I can remember my first day so vividly: Johnny Briggs [Mike Baldwin] – who we sadly lost recently – was one of the first people I saw in the green room,” he shares. “It feels like yesterday, but then it also feels like I’ve done 23 years – it’s an odd feeling. Corrie is such a brilliant place to be, and I’m hugely humbled to be a part of this show.”
While Alan’s own family life might be harmonious, Ty’s certainly won’t be for a while. Is there any hope of him and Fiz mending their relationship, or is it over for good?
“Any relationship has its huge tests – and this is a big one,” admits Alan. “But it also might be the making of them… I don’t know. That’s the joy of being actors, we only find out when we get our scripts. I’m prepared to go with whatever the script tells me to do. But on a personal note, you’ve heard me talking about working with Jennie and my feelings on that, so let’s see where this story takes us…”