Coronation Street’s Gary Windass could be murdered and villain Rick Neelan is worse than serial killer Pat Phelan, says actor Mikey North
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CORONATION Street’s Gary Windass could be murdered and villain Rick Neelan is worse than serial killer Pat Phelan.
Mikey North – who plays builder Gary on the ITV soap – has revealed his fears for his character, who is in hot water after borrowing money from loan shark Rick Neelan (Greg Wood).
In recent weeks things have turned increasingly dark for Gary, who has been forced to undertake a series of horrible jobs for Rick, which have included duping pensioners by offering them high interest loans.
The situation has impacted his relationship with Sarah Platt (Tina O’Brien) as he starts to lead a secret life.
He’s also one of the prime suspects for the factory roof collapse, which killed Rana, as he was the last person to work on the roof – and actor Mikey is worried about his fate.
Speaking to The Sun Online’s Soap Bubble, he admitted: “I've always said, the amount of Platt’s boyfriends and husbands that have died, it's probably got to be me next, but I've had a good run!”
Mikey, 32, believes Rick is just as dangerous as serial killer Pat Phelan, but is more likeable.
“I quite like the character Rick, the way he's written, it’s almost like the likeable scary bad guy,” Mikey told us.
“He's got some pretty decent one liners whereas Pat was pretty much bad through and through, so I think there's a bit more to like about Rick, but I wouldn't mess with him.”
In the coming weeks, Gary is set to confess everything to Sarah but it could spell the end of their relationship.
Terrifyingly, Sarah will come face to face with Rick and poor Gary doesn’t think he will be able to protect her.
Discussing the upcoming scenes, Mikey - who has been on the soap since 2008 - told us: “Rick and Sarah will meet eventually, in quite strange circumstances and that's how she's going to find out about all this.
“I don't think anyone can protect anyone from Ricky, he's pretty ruthless.
“I think Gary fancies himself as being quite handy, but Rick’s a different level and kinda even puts Gary in his place.”
Mikey believes his character is full aware about his behaviour will impact Sarah, but gets lost in the stress of owing money.
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He said: “I think he's trying to balance too many plates that he kind of forgets where he was with the last one - so it will all come to a head at some point, but he doesn't quite see that.”
But he’s not surprised that his character has sunk so low, telling us: “I suppose when you look back at when he kind of first came into it, he was kind of a bit of a bad lad and a bit of a chav in some ways, a bit of a low life, so it's kind of reverted back to his youth in a way.
“I think he’s got more of a conscience now, but it's definitely within him to turn a little bit rogue.”
And it looks like things aren’t going to get easier for a while, as Mikey teased: “Yeah it's going to be a big year, there's a hell of a lot happening for Gary.
“It's kind of his big turning point; there is lots to come that will take us to all locations far and wide. It should be good. It’s kind of the next strand of the characters life really.”
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