Returning Coronation Street star Marc Bayliss has teased there will be an even darker side to his character Rob Donovan this time around.
The Corrie villain will make a surprise reappearance on Thursday’s episode of the ITV soap when his son Bobby Crawford (Jack Carroll) goes to visit him in prison.
Rob was jailed back in 2014 for the murder of Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan), who he pushed off the builder’s yard balcony.
With his sister Carla Connor (Alison King) in need of a kidney transplant after the damage caused by her recent case of sepsis, Bobby visits Rob in the hope he will agree to be a donor.
Teasing how Rob has changed since viewers last saw him during a guest appearance in 2017, Marc says: ‘Rob is a very different person. It’s been seven years since we last saw him. That’s a lot of life. It’s a lot of time to be in the prison system as well.
‘Whether his core nature has changed or not, whether he’s made changes for the greater good, is yet to be seen.’
He continued: ‘He’s not had the easiest of times in prison, as I don’t think anyone would do for that amount of time, particularly someone who did what he did to a young woman. It’s not something that he’s had an easy journey with, and it’s something that he has huge regrets over with the way that everything played out.
‘We do get to see some of that on screen, as well as Rob’s genuine feelings. But with Rob, there are always motives to make his life better than what it is, and that may well get him into trouble yet again.’
Marc explains that while fans will see ‘some heartfelt moments’ with Rob’s loved-oned – including some new characters – he added: ‘There’s a darker side to Rob than I’ve known before, and we get a window into, I would say, a man who needs more support than he’s getting.’
There are set to be dramatic scenes during Bobby’s visit to see his estranged father, as they find themselves in a hostage situation involving another familiar face – Matty Radcliffe (Seamus McGoff) who has been jailed for brother Mason’s (Luca Toolan) murder.
Marc revealed: ‘Initially he is not really willing to potentially go down the route of being a kidney donor for Carla but then he asks Bobby to come back to the prison to see him again, and they find themselves in the middle of a hostage situation and Rob comes to the rescue. But is it all it seems?
‘There is an escalation of a situation which involves Matty Radcliffe and all is not as it seems in the actual moment. But at the same time, Rob doesn’t really want to see Bobby in turmoil or in danger in any way, shape or form.
‘Whether he’s truly in danger, is to be seen, because there is something else that’s happening in the background at the same time, but what that is can’t be revealed until it unfolds on screen,’ Marc added cryptically.
Coronation Street airs Rob Donovan’s return on Thursday 9 January at 9pm on ITV1 or stream first from 7am on ITVX.
