Coronation Street star Calum Lill has explained that "a hatred for women" has driven his character Joel Deering to heinous actions.
In a shock flashback scene last week, Joel was revealed as the killer of missing teenager Lauren (Cait Fitton) - and in subsequent scenes, it became clear that he has a penchant for manipulating and abusing young women.
The lawyer's dark alternative life is a stark contrast to his nice-guy image on the street, and next week he will propose to girlfriend Dee-Dee (Channique Sterling-Brown).
"He is very messed up, he sees women in two ways," explained Lill, who is approaching one year on the cobbles. "He has these women he adores and puts on a pedestal like Dee-Dee and then there are the other women, the young girls that he sees as lesser in some way in his eyes and takes his hatred for women out on them.
"When he sees these vulnerable young women probably from broken homes, with criminal records and no-one looking out for them, he is like a shark. He hones in on them, coercively controls them and emotionally manipulates them using his power and money. If you were to sit down and try and ask him why he did it he would justify it as just helping them, when no-one else would.
"It is a repetitive pattern of behaviour - he engages with these young girls and afterwards there is the element of guilt so he tries to be a good person and be better towards Dee-Dee. Then the guilt wears off and he needs another 'fix', he has a euphoria-guilt cycle. It is a pattern of destructive behaviour. And we will see in the coming weeks that he is still doing it..."
Coronation Street continues Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
Neil Wilkes
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