Coronation Street villain Theo Silverton steps up his manipulation next week, playing for sympathy from Todd Grimshaw after suffering a minor injury. With Theo determined to have his partner’s undivided attention, is Todd’s ordeal about to get worse?

The week kicks off with Theo struggling to hide his irritation when Todd reveals that he has offered to help Billy Mayhew at the local soup kitchen. This follows Theo’s previous sly attempts to drive a wedge between Todd and Billy.

Subsequently, Billy visits the Bistro, where he is baffled to find Theo comforting his estranged wife Danielle in one of the restaurant booths. The pair have temporarily dropped their battles following the news that Noah Hedley has died.

Theo later drops in at the community centre, but ends up snapping at both Todd and Billy. Irate, the scaffolder leaves the two men to it and helps Mary Taylor dismantle tables instead.

Although, it doesn’t take long for Theo to draw attention to himself again, as he makes a fuss over a minor injury…

“Theo somehow traps his finger,” our Corrie source explains. “He yells to let everyone around know about it, so Todd rushes about trying to track down a first aid kit.

“It’s a calculated move by Theo, and viewers will spot a satisfied smile creeping over his face after Todd leaps to his attention. If only Todd could see that Theo is playing a sick game.”

Coronation Street is exploring the topic of coercive control in a same sex relationship with the characters of Theo and Todd. Viewers have noticed various red flags in Theo’s behaviour over the past few months, and things could get worse now that they’re living alone in a flat together.

Speaking on ITV’s Lorraine this week, Gareth Pierce – who plays Todd – explained: “So many of the themes of that kind of control are universal, whether it’s a straight or a same sex relationship. People will be seeing parallels. But definitely we’ve been well-advised on some of the ways that same sex relationship abuse might be.”

Discussing Theo’s complicated character, he continued: “I suppose that’s the thing, really – because we’ve been let into that backstory of Theo, and some of his sources of shame and internalised homophobia, maybe there’s been a period where Todd certainly, and maybe the audience as well, have wondered if it’s fixable.

“But I think it’s dawning on the audience definitely, and hopefully Todd eventually…”

Gareth added: “There needs to be some peril, doesn’t there, in our big storylines? I don’t want to give you any spoilers but there’s a fair journey to go yet.”