Coronation Street unveils Peter Barlow arrest twist with 'so much more to come'

14 October 2023 , 20:00

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Coronation Street unveils Peter Barlow arrest twist with 'so much more to come'

Coronation Street is set for even more explosive scenes next week as Peter Barlow is arrested on suspicion of murder after he killed serial murderer Stephen Reid in a huge twist on Friday.

During the latest episode, Peter ran Stephen over as he feared he was going to kill Jenny Connor, who he had been holding hostage on the street, with the car incident killing the murderer outright. Peter had been growing increasingly frustrated over what Stephen had done to his partner Carla Connor, drugging her with LSD to make her think she was paranoid and also stealing all the Underworld money.

There was shock reeling across the whole of the cobbles as Stephen's lifeless body laid on the floor before he was put in a body bag by emergency services. And the drama is far from over as in scenes next week Peter, played by actor Chris Gascoyne, finds himself arrested on suspicion of murder and hauled in for questioning by DS Swain.

Could Peter find himself on trial for Stephen's murder or can he persuade the police that he was in fact stopping Stephen from killing again? Teasing the storyline, Peter star Chris, 55, who is set to leave the ITV soap in the coming weeks after 23 years, said he wasn't expecting his character to kill off Stephen, played by Todd Boyce.

Coronation Street is set for even more explosive scenes next week as Peter Barlow is arrested on suspicion of murder after he killed murderer Stephen Reid in a huge twist on Friday (ITV)

He said: "It was Iain the producer who told me and I was not expecting it that’s for sure. But I was pleased and I was keen to see how the story would pan out. When I read it I loved that it kind of came out of nowhere, hopefully it was not something that the audience was expecting. They knew that Peter was angry and was looking for Stephen but although he had tried to beat him up at the flat I don’t think anyone saw that last moment coming until it happened. Peter was one of the few people who was not on the street at that point and then he came out of nowhere."

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Chris has teased that it will be a "turbulent time ahead" for Peter, he said: "He is shocked that he is being arrested and questioned for murder, as the week starts he is certain that he saved Jenny’s life and he can't understand why he is being asked about his motivation for running him over. At this point that is his frame of mind and he is still feeling a certain amount of justification for what he did.

"When other people who saw what happened start to question it he starts to doubt himself. He starts to lose control and a whole internal monologue starts in his head. He starts to think ‘What have I done?’ ‘Was Jenny in danger?’ ‘Could I have done something different?’, ‘ ‘Would it have been better if Stephen had been arrested?’."

Things only get worse when Peter realises that Stephen had let Jenny go before he ran him over as the story shifts from being centred on Stephen to Peter, Chris said: "This is where Stephen’s story ends and mine picks up. Peter is a man who is in deep conflict with himself. At the end of the day it doesn't matter how it happened, he has killed someone. It is impossible to imagine what that must feel like. Could you ever rest, could you sleep. He actually says 'I have taken another human being out of this world forever, what kind of person does that? What does that make me?' And he is terrified."

Peter ran Stephen over as he feared he was going to kill Jenny Connor (ITV)

Chris has also teased how Peter will deal with his "demons", saying: "He is in hell and he is fighting through fear, but when he knows that Jenny is pretty adamant she would have been ok, that really starts to affect his mental state of mind. As we know Peter has been through a lot and there is no doubt that he will be tempted to drink which really would be a decision to kill the pain and kill himself through alcohol, he knows that. This is a real danger zone for him. He has taken a man’s life and even if he goes to prison he will have to live with that, he will always suffer. It will be interesting to see how he deals with his demons."

With Chris set to leave the ITV soap, the actor has confirmed this storyline ties into Peter's exit: "Yes without giving too much away this will affect his future. He has been arrested on suspicion of murder, he is struggling with his demons. He has always had lots of enemies but at the end of the day he is his own worst enemy, he is the one that has suffered at his own hands the most emotionally and we can see this starting to happen again. He is facing prison, the drink is on his mind again, Audrey wants him to pay for what he has done. It is a turbulent time ahead."

Teasing more details about his exit, he added: "Well he has just killed someone so there are so many storylines that can come out of that and so many reasons that he might not be around any more. All I will say is I am delighted with my exit storyline, the scripts are superb and I can’t wait to see the reaction to how Peter leaves the street."

Olivia Wheeler