Coronation Street actor Todd Boyce has revealed that when he returned to the soap he knew that his character Stephen Reid would become a murderer.
The son of Audrey (Sue Nicholls) and sister of Gail (Helen Worth), Canadian businessman Stephen has appeared on the cobbles on and off since 1996, returning earlier this year and appearing to set down more solid roots in Weatherfield.
Viewers have been aware that Stephen is in huge financial debt and has been keeping it from his family - and in Monday night's episode, Leo (Joe Frost) also discovered the truth about Stephen's situation and his plans to swindle Audrey out of the equity in her house.
Leo confronted Stephen up on the factory gantry and threatened to phone Audrey, then in a shock twist, Stephen attacked Leo and sent him flying over the gantry, killing him.
Recalling how exec producer Iain MacLeod pitched the storyline to him, Boyce told the Daily Star: "I'm just so honoured that Iain MacLeod phoned my agent out of the blue and said, 'Hey do you want to come in?'
"What an honour. I'm 61 and someone believes in me enough to say I can do that, so I'm beside myself, I'm really excited.
"Iain told me over Zoom, he unleashed this outline and I was made aware that I was going to be a murderer. He said 'we can take Stephen anywhere, he's like a blank canvas'."
Suggesting that Stephen could kill again - in the vein of his sister's serial killer ex-husband Richard Hillman (Brian Capron) - he added: "In the green room I'm offered a lot of cups of tea by a lot of actors who want to find out how long I'm going to be doing the show and how many people I'm going to kill.
"They offer me their seats, and... no, it's a running joke. I think he's capable of just killing more people and going on and doing that. It's like a gambler, the further he's in the further he digs the hole, I guess."
Coronation Street continues Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on ITV.
Neil Wilkes
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