As if poor Tyrone Dobbs hasn’t suffered enough, having been threatened, hit and made to feel increasingly isolated by abusive partner Kirsty Soames. But next week’s episodes will see Ty endure his worst beating to date – and it’s an act that forces him to consider leaving Weatherfield.
After finding text messages from Fiz on his mobile, Kirsty decides to surreptitiously take Ty’s phone and keys to work with her, effectively imprisoning him in their home with baby daughter Ruby. So does Tyrone suspect what she’s up to and how does he go about broaching the subject when Kirsty returns from the factory?
“He just kind of flippantly says, ‘oh you haven’t seen my keys have you, or my phone?’ And she gives him the keys back and says it must have been a mistake, but I think Tyrone knows better,” says actor Alan Halsall. “She claims that she doesn’t have the phone, which does worry Tyrone.”
Later on, he finds his missing mobile and confronts Kirsty with his discovery. Mad with jealousy, Kirsty accuses Tyrone of being untrustworthy and lashes out with her worst attack to date. In a scene that will make for uncomfortable viewing for some viewers, Tyrone is beaten to the floor where he cowers as the blows rain down. So how does the confrontation leave him feeling?
“It’s a really touchy situation for him this time because he’s now at a different stage in his life. I don’t think he is in love with Kirsty, whereas I think, with the other beatings, he was in love with her. He’s just been taking it for the sake of the baby but now he starts to see that there is no way out – and that is when he starts to think about doing other things.
“This is quite a bad beating because he ends up on the floor and then she kicks him. So the physical side is bad, but then she makes him apologise for the things that he’s done. When he doesn’t really apologise, she pulls his hair and he’s screaming. It’s a horrible place for him to be, not just physically but mentally. It puts him in a really dark place.”
So much so that, while taking painkillers afterwards, we see Tyrone contemplating a bottle of pills. Are we supposed to think that he’s thinking of suicide?
“In all honesty,” says Halsall, “I remember doing the scene, and I thought, I’m not sure that Tyrone is at that place where he would contemplate taking his own life. I genuinely don’t think he’s there. I think he is just stuck for a way out. It’s a cry for help. The problem is that he knows he’s at a crossroads, he knows something has to change, but he just doesn’t know how to go about it. And I think that is what creeps into his head regarding the painkillers.”