After three years away from the cobbles, Todd Grimshaw exploded back on our screens with a brand new face.
Coronation Street bosses decided to bring back the popular character, who some may consider to be a villain, last year in the wake of a scandal involving the previous actor.
Bruno Langley was sacked from the role he had played for on and off for 17 years before he pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault in 2017.
When Gareth was brought in to take on the role, he decided not to watch old episodes of Corrie featuring Langley so that he wasn't doing an "impersonation".
While Todd returned looking rather different, Corrie fans may have recognised Gareth from some of his previous roles before he joined the soap.
The Welsh actor was best known for playing Gavin Moss in BBC Radio 4 drama The Archers and during lockdown he recorded his lines from the coat cupboard of his house.
Get the news you want straight to your inbox. Sign up for a Mirror newsletter here .
The 40-year-old actor also starred in the second series of Ordinary Lies as well as appearing in Hinterland, Mr Selfridge, Hollyoaks and a large number of Welsh speaking shows and films.
While he was getting into acting, Gareth also founded a band with pal Matthew Wall in 2008 called Hafaliadau = Equations.
The reason behind the name is that 'hafaliadau' translates to 'equations' in English.
Gareth is married to Amy Lee Pierce, who he tied the knot with back in April 2014, and they have a five-year-old daughter.
The family live close to the Coronation Street set in Manchester but Gareth makes sure to take them back to his home nation of Wales.
Gareth doesn't show his daughter's face in snaps but does like to share their adventures on Instagram.
In July this year, he shared a snap playing with his daughter in the sea with the caption: "Home home for a bit."
Gareth is the second actor to play Todd, having replaced shamed former Corrie star Bruno Langley, whose contract ended before his trial in October 2017.
Langley did not get to film an exit, so writers quickly wrote a departure storyline with Todd going on the run after assaulting a police officer.
Three years after Todd was last seen on screen, Corrie bosses brought the character back into the fold with Gareth in the role.
Gareth may not have been on the scene for very long but he is already close with his new co-stars - sharing a snap of them during a camping trip earlier this month.
Speaking about the pressure on taking on the role following Langley's sacking in 2017, he said: "I can see why it might be daunting but I tried to flip that into a great advantage."
The Welsh actor explained he didn't want to just copy the old Todd, therefore he didn't watch past episodes that featured Langley.
"Since finding out the part is mine and I'm playing it I'm not watching them," he explained.
"It's about taking Todd forward and [...] making him unique," he added. "I don't want to be drawn into impersonation."
Bosses of the ITV soap made sure there would be no sightings of former actor Bruno on set by replacing all the old snaps of Todd with images of Gareth.
With the help of photo editing software, the set team were able to superimpose Gareth's childhood images onto photos of character Todd and his on-screen brother Ryan Thomas.
This gave Gareth somewhat of a connection to the on-screen brother he has never worked alongside or even met.
Gareth said: "The on set family photos in the Grimshaws – all the Todd ones are from my childhood but mixed in with Ryan’s as Jason.
"So it oddly feels there’s brotherly connection even though we haven’t met."
Since Todd's return he has brought all manner of trouble onto the cobbles, splitting up Paul and Billy so he could get back with the vicar.
But his lies and deceit are about to be unravelled when blackmailing teen Will hands over an incriminating video of Todd to his rival Paul.
In the secretly recorded tape, unsuspecting Todd confesses to stealing the heat pump and framing Paul while also admitting he successfully split him up from Billy.
After being publicly exposed in tonight's double bill, Todd is rejected by devastated Billy and their adopted daughter Summer.
"I think because we’ve leant into some of Todd’s bad behaviour we haven’t shied away from going to some fairly dark places with it," said Gareth on last week's This Morning.
"Hopefully now the pay-off is that much greater for the audience. I do get the sense now that they’re really looking forward now to seeing Todd now getting his comeuppance."
With everyone turned against him, Todd is left homeless and sleeping in the funeral parlour as he has nowhere left to go.
This Morning host Ruth Langsford admitted that, although Todd is a bit of a villain, audiences can't help but have a soft spot for the "charming" character.
"That’s what I do love about playing Todd, you do get to do a bit of everything," explained the actor.
Gareth noted that Todd is an effective manipulator because he does mix true emotions with lies to get what he wants and he does genuinely care for Summer and Billy.
Todd is in another giant mess, but Gareth believes his character could make a drastic change.
When asked whether Todd is redeemable, Gareth answered: "I think so. I think that if you’re playing a character especially for a length of time, then it’s no good seeing him as a baddie. You have to get on the inside and view them with some compassion.
"For me with Todd, there’s a sadness with what he lost when he left last time and actually it’s his determination to get back with Billy and that co-parenting role with Summer that’s driving a lot of his behaviour."
*Coronation Street airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on ITV at 7.30pm and 8.30pm
Do you have a story to share? Email webfeatures@trinitymirror.com.
