Coronation Street producer Kate Brooks has revealed the next chapter for Todd Grimshaw’s dark storyline – as his loved ones finally start to get closer to the truth about his secret trauma. Those closest to Todd still have no idea that he’s being abused by his evil fiancé Theo Silverton, but as the early months of 2026 continue, that could all be about to change.

Todd recently decided to give Theo another chance, unaware that the scheming scaffolder had left Billy Mayhew to die after the big Corriedale crash. As Billy already knew the truth about Todd’s ordeal, Theo was desperate to silence him forever.

In a new interview, Brooks explained: “Theo sunk to a whole new low when he allowed Billy to die. Going forward, it’s a very complicated place that Todd finds himself in. He was ready to leave, but now he’s very wrapped up in his grief following Billy’s death.

“As we go forward into 2026, Todd’s all over the shop. He doesn’t feel like he’s got the strength to go through with leaving Theo. He’s feeling really worthless – he’s feeling like if he had not spoken to Billy on that night about what happened, then maybe Billy could have still been alive.”

“That’s what Theo hones in on – the fact that Todd is still quite vulnerable and is still prone to needing someone to lift him up,” Brooks continued. “We’ll also see that Theo is ravaged by his own guilt. Yes, he did something absolutely despicable, but he justifies it as being absolutely necessary to keep hold of Todd.

“In his very warped, very unhinged and tarnished way, Theo does believe deep down that he loves Todd. So he does everything he can to try and be an absolute pillar of support for Todd, Summer and George – he’s an absolute rock.

“Part of this is about masking his own guilt about what he feels about his part in Billy’s death. But he also knows how close he came to losing Todd, so he’s willing to do everything he can to make sure that he doesn’t lose Todd again.”

However, the difference this time is that Theo may not find it so easy to control Todd and keep his supporters in the dark.

“We’ll see Theo becoming more manipulative,” Brooks warned. “We’ll see him start to draw and pull Todd back into his fold. Todd feels like he needs somebody to keep him afloat and that Theo is that person.

“We wanted to play the truth of this story. This is not something that’s wrapped up after a couple of months – this is ongoing. So Todd and Theo are still very front and centre of the show as we continue to tell the story truthfully and realistically.

“But obviously, we can’t sustain this forever. Certainly Todd will start to realise that maybe all is not what it seems, as will other people around Todd.

“Todd’s got a great surrogate family around. He’s got George, who he absolutely adores. He’s got Summer, Christina, and Gary as well – kind of by default!

“So there are people starting to look out for Todd and realise that he’s not behaving how he should be behaving – and he’s becoming a broken shadow of the person he once was. It’s how they deal with that, how they rally, how they approach something so delicate and sensitive, which will be how we explore that story further.”