Todd Grimshaw (Gareth Pierce) has faced horrifying abuse at the hands of partner Theo Silverton (James Cartwright) in Coronation Street, but tonight their relationship took an unexpected turn when Theo ended things.

Things escalated dramatically between the couple in last night’s episode, when Theo threatened Todd with a knife.

It came after Theo’s birthday hadn’t gone the way he’d hoped, and Todd had tried to encourage him to drink coffee instead of alcohol. This only infuriated Theo further, and soon he was throwing things at Todd before pulling the weapon.

Heartbreakingly, Todd told Theo to use it and put him out of his misery, as he couldn’t stand to live like that anymore.

‘I think in that moment there’s a bit of strength in Todd that he’s facing Theo down, but I think underneath it there’s a core sadness that actually he feels so unsafe in this relationship,’ actor Gareth Pierce explained when he chatted to Metro.

‘He’s skirting with the hope being lost and saying almost that Theo has ruined his life to such an extent that he might as well just go one step further.’

Tonight, it was revealed that Theo had spent the night sleeping in his van, and tragically, Todd was blaming himself for things getting so bad.

When Gary Windass (Mikey North) came round to check on him, Todd even wondered if there was any chance for the two of them to move forward from this, and Gary urged him to talk to Theo.

The opportunity arose that evening, and Todd was quick to point out that they couldn’t carry on with things the way they were.

However, he was caught off guard when Theo abruptly ended things, pointing out that they were both unhappy.

Handing his engagement ring back to Todd, Theo left – but is that the end of Todd’s ordeal?

Unfortunately not, it would seem.

In upcoming episodes, Theo is set to go out of his way to make Todd jealous by taking other men on dates and openly flirting in front of him.

But when Todd decides to have a bit of fun of his own, Theo won’t have it and takes extreme action by drugging Todd’s drink. Will he be okay?

Speaking about the aftermath of the breakup, Gareth said: ‘It’s the question of what will this space do? It’ll give Todd time to sit with where he is now and maybe get some perspective.

‘Maybe it’ll create some space for those closer to him like Sarah, George and Summer to potentially influence him as well.

‘I think we might see some campaigning around him, and they’ll tread carefully in doing it, but maybe they’ll say that this is a good thing — of course not knowing the full misery of what’s been happening.

‘I think there will be a sense that might happen, but of course the space will also give Todd an opportunity to have some sense of loneliness. And again, I think that might be something at the beginning of this relationship that kept him there a bit longer. There was a sense that he maybe feared being left on the shelf, and I think that came back to haunt him a little bit.’