Todd Boyce struggled to hold back his emotions as he discussed joining the list of Coronation Street serial killers after it was revealed that his character Stephen Reid will kill again.
Todd returned to in the role of Stephen in the ITV soap last year, 15 years after he was last seen on the famous street and 26 years after making his debut in the role. And he appeared to arrive in the nick of time as his mum, Audrey Roberts, found herself in trouble when her drinking got a bit out of hand - despite her family's attempts at an intervention.
But it soon became clear that his return to the cobbles was as innocent as it seemed and that it was his dire finances that brought him back. Corrie fans have since watched in despair as Stephen planned to swindle money from his much-loved mother in order to pay his ex, Gabrielle back.
And it wasn't long before he became a killer in a vid to keep his money woes - and plans to fleece his family - quiet. As Leo Thompkins got close to the truth and threatened to expose his plans, Stephen shoved Leo off the edge of Underworld to his death and has since done everything he can to try and cover it up by pretending his victim went to Canada.
And he appeared to be keeping it very much hidden, until Leo's dad, Teddy returned. In shock scenes at New Year, After a shock accident saw Teddy knocked over, Stephen appeared to be contemplating ending his life while he was in the hospital.
However, when Teddy woke from his accident and wasn't able to remember a thing, Stephen breathed a sigh of relief and set about convincing him that while he was in Canada he saw Leo. But next week, Teddy reveals that he remembers everything and accuses Stephen of having done something to Leo.
Teddy then grows angry, revealing that he remembers every word of their conversation before the accident. Stephen then leads Teddy into the factory, suggesting they can talk inside. Teddy then accuses Stephen of doing everything he can to stop him from going to Canada because he killed Leo in a bid to have Jenny for himself. And When Teddy vows to report him to the police, Stephen whacks him over the head and kills him.
Discussing how he felt when he find found out that Stephen was to kill again, Todd told the Manchester Evening News and other press: "In March... I started the very start of May. Iain MacLeod [Corrie's producer] was sat down on a Zoom and I had no clue I was going to be a murderer.
"It was a nice period of time they checked my availability for and I think the blood probably drained from my face when he said 'you’re going to be a murderer' and then I thought, 'Oh my God, I'm going to be a baddie'. The blood came back to my face. I thought, 'This is amazing'. But he [Iain] kindly wanted to see if that was ok with me."
He added: "Then he said there will be another murder at some point but it has come sooner than I expected." And Todd only heard out about some of his storylines 'through the grapevine'. "I've stopped asking what's going to happen to Stephen because it's so exciting not to know," he told us.
"But I had a stunt double inform me I was going to be delivering pizzas and then someone told me from the art department that I was going to kill him [Teddy] in a certain way so that was news to me. So it's by the grapevine. It's a great place to work and everybody's got a little bit of information."
On joining the list of Corrie's notorious killers, Todd became emotional as he said: "It's amazing. Last time we did some press I spoke about Connor McIntyre [Pat Phelan] and Brian Capron [Richard Hillman] and I felt a bit pretentious in naming myself with those esteemed actors.
"I watch the show, I love the show, I've watched it for years, ever since I was a kid in Australia and you hope to play Hamlet in your 20s and 30s, you hope to play Macbeth in your 50s, you hope to play this and it's even rarer than that. It's such an honour and I get emotional about it.
"I'm so grateful to Iain. It's heaven. And by a certain age, acting is no longer the problem. You're not worried about the acting you just want to get on and do it. You want to hit people and crash on bikes."
He added when asked about coming back as a character he already played with a new edge: "I feel like a kid who has climbed into the television set and inhabited this dream. It's wonderful to not have to establish him. Just to have a history on the street is heaven and to come back and do this is perfect."
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