Coronation Street’s Tim and Sally will clash over Geoff's abuse...
Coronation Street boss Iain MacLeod has revealed that Sally and Tim Metcalfe’s relationship will be severely tested in the wake of Yasmeen’s attack on abusive husband, Geoff.
The much-loved couple are currently planning to remarry, following Tim’s recent realisation that a drunken wedding in Las Vegas years ago to air hostess Charlie Wood was legal – making his and Sally’s subsequent nuptials in 2015 null and void.
However, as Yasmeen remains locked up behind bars, accused of attempted murder after stabbing Geoff in self defence, Sally will become suspicious that her father-in-law isn’t the innocent man he claims to be; putting her at odds with her partner, whose loyalties lie with his dad.
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Says MacLeod: "This is a really interesting and complicated psychological story. It sucks in loads of different characters, and Sally comes to be quite pivotal.
"It’s fair to say she has never been Geoff's biggest fan, and she is among the first people to start to see what was going on behind closed doors. This provides huge material for her and Tim.
"Tim, in his own way, has been brainwashed and gas-lighted by Geoff since birth, so he’s very much 'Team Geoff,' whereas Sally very quickly becomes 'Team Yasmeen.'
"There is a lot of story to be had in the coming weeks out of the tensions that are created in that relationship, and the difficulties it poses for them as a married couple with polar opposite views of what went on next door."
MacLeod has also revealed that, as the abuse storyline continues, viewers will find out more about Geoff’s history with first wife, Tess – Tim’s mother.
She has never appeared in Coronation Street and little is known about her, other than that Geoff married her after she became pregnant with Tim – who was born in 1972 - and they later divorced.
Explains MacLeod: "What we have discovered from our research is that male perpetrators [of abuse] often have a cyclical pattern of behaviour, where they will meet somebody and lure them in with grand, romantic gestures, and be ultra supportive and funny and charming.
"That will gradually give way over a period of time to abusive and controlling behaviour, which we’ve seen with Geoff and Yasmeen. When the relationship breaks down, they will move onto someone else and resume the same pattern of behaviour.
"So it felt right that we look back at Geoff's previous relationships in some detail, and discover that he has done this before - as tends to be the case in real life.
"There’ll be a lot of interesting exploration of Geoff’s back story, which will obviously entail a lot of interesting exploration of Tim’s back story. It's a good opportunity for us to find out about him, and how he’s become the man he is."
Coronation Street will temporarily air a reduced schedule of three episodes a week. Watch on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7.30pm on ITV.
