Coronation Street fans were confused when it was announced that Geoff Metcalfe would be an evil villain.
The seemingly mild-mannered dad of Tim Metcalfe was introduced as a gentle hospital radio presenter, but recently he has changed and has begun trying to control partner Yasmeen Nazir.
Viewers were confused at his change of personality but it can now be revealed that Geoff was always planned as a Weatherfield baddie.
Actor Ian Bartholomew has told how he has always tried to play Geoff with a sinister edge.
He told Digital Spy: “I knew when I was first brought in to the programme as Tim’s dad that the character might turn a bit dark so it wasn’t unexpected.
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“For the first few months it was ‘nice Geoff’, ‘funny Geoff’ and ‘silly Geoff’. But now it is slowly starting to become apparent that there is something missing in Geoff’s psychological make-up.
“As an acting exercise and something for an actor to get his teeth in to, it is going to be interesting but it is also a privilege to be trusted with such an important storyline that I hope will make a difference.”
He added they “have been trying to feed small clues without being obvious because that is what is true to real life”.
Ian said Geoff is “misguided which becomes unpleasant and then we will see the true extent of his behaviour in how the story develops”.
Read more: Coronation Street fans consider ‘switching off’ over Geoff controlling Yasmeen
And with some viewers switching off from the soap over the disturbing scenes, Ian defended the soap tackling the storyline.
He said it is “something that happens in our society much more than we understand, it is very prevalent”.
Ian said he hopes the storyline will “make people who are perpetrators of this abuse think about their behaviour but I also hope it gives victims of this sort of behaviour a way of realising that they are not alone and if it helps them do something about it then we have achieved something very important”.
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