Gary Windass' time looked close to being up in Coronation Street last week as his murderous secret finally came to light after three years of being hidden.
Luckily for the former bad boy, played by Mikey North, it was just Laura Neelan who found out he killed her estranged husband Rick and not the whole of Weatherfield. However, that could still happen as the loan shark's body is set to be found in upcoming scenes.
On Friday night Corrie fans saw Gary attempting to gain access to the old brickworks where he had to move loan shark Rick's body to in 2020 after killing him the year before. He was desperate to get in as he found out it was set to be turned into Weatherfield County's new training ground but he was quickly caught out by security.
He was soon telling wife Maria that he was thinking of confessing in a bid to get a lighter sentence but when he returned back to their flat, Laura was ready to confront him after her private investigator told her the police think Rick is dead - and that Gary killed him. In the emotionally-charged scenes, Gary admitted to Laura what he had done, saying he acted in self-defence after Rick tried to kill him and threatened to kill his then-girlfriend Sarah Platt and her children.
Knowing she had to tell the police, Gary asked for time to say his goodbyes to Maria but when they later returned home to tell Kelly the devastating truth, they saw a police car outside their apartment block and Laura being escorted out in handcuffs after she told the police that she killed Rick.
With more to come in the storyline, we thought we'd delve into the quieter, less dramatic life, of Gary actor Mikey whose appearance on the ITV soap wasn't his first TV role.
The 35-year-old, from Scarborough, started by appearing in local productions as a school kid but it wasn't until he starred in a play at Scarborough Sixth Form College that his hobby turned into his future career as he went on to win an award for the most promising newcomer with the British Theatre Guide for his performance in Bottle Universe in London's West End.
After that he had small roles in The Bill and Britannia High but viewers may have forgotten that he also appeared in BBC One's school-based drama Waterloo Road which was filmed from series one until the end of series seven in Rochdale before moving to the Scottish town of Greenock.
He appeared in four episodes of the popular show, which is returning to screens this year and is currently being filmed in Greater Manchester once again, as Helmsley. The character, only known by his first name, was a member of a gang of excluded Waterloo Road students who caused havoc for some of the series' key stars including Adam Thomas' character Donte Charles.
But it wasn't until 2008 that Mikey got his big break when he was cast as Gary in Corrie. Fans of the ITV soap have seen the builder turned debt collector Gary become a soap villain after causing the death of Rana Habeeb in the Underworld factory sabotage before killing the previously mentioned Rick.
Asked if he enjoys playing a villain, Mikey recently told the Manchester Evening News and other press: "When I was younger I said 'I just want to play the bad guy.'
"I think, maybe it's me getting a little bit older, but it's all good doing that but playing this nicer, happy Jack-the-lad, bit of comedy in there, I've definitely started to enjoy that more as I've got older. I like the best of both worlds."
While his Corrie character may be fans' top crush, away from the soap Mikey is married to fitness instructor wife Rachael who he met at a bar in Manchester in 2013. Fast forward two years and the soap star was popping the question in the Lake District and it was a very emotional moment.
He previously told OK! magazine : "I asked her to shut her eyes. When she opened them I was down on one knee with the ring. I was looking up at Rachael, with my knees getting wet, and I just said: 'Will you marry me?'' In the moment before I proposed I was shaking like a leaf. Then when she said yes, I called my mum and just couldn't stop crying."
The couple then married in a stunning countryside ceremony at Curradine Barns in Shrawley at the start of 2016 and by the end of the same year Mikey and Rachael became parents to their first child, Archie. But it wasn't an easy experience as Rachael was almost forced to have a blood transfusion after her episiotomy went wrong, with Mikey describing the scene as something like a “chainsaw massacre”.
"I had to have an episiotomy but unfortunately they cut through a vein and I lost one and a half litres of blood," Rachael previously told OK! magazine. "She was throwing up with the pain," Mikey added. "I had tears in my eyes just watching."
Rachael. thankfully, made a full recovery and the pair went on to welcome another child, a daughter named Eliza who was 16 days overdue, in November 2019.
Away from his family life, Mikey has previously opened up about having an unusual phobia. He ended up learning to drive on TV after being left terrified of getting behind the wheel for years. In 2018 he took part in All Star Driving School after putting off getting his license since he was a teenager.
"When I was 17 I moved to London and I didn't need to drive, and now I'm 31 and get stick from my friends," Mikey told What's On TV at the time. It's become a bit of a phobia of mine, and so for some stupid reason I thought: 'Let's go on national television and learn how to drive in front of everyone!'"
With his aim to be able to help his wife on the school run, Mikey passed his driving test and it was another emotional time for the actor as he always wanted to drive as he was obsessed with cars growing up but thought he 'wasn't ever going to do it'.
"Passing my test, I've never been so nervous in all of my life and that includes doing the lives here," he told us back in 2019. "I was s****ing myself and when I passed I burst into tears like a big girl. I was in floods of tears, I really was. It was an emotional time, it really was."
