Coronation Street has aired more disturbing scenes between Todd Grimshaw and his boyfriend Theo Silverton as their domestic abuse storyline continues. But while the episode contained a dark development, things will get even worse in the lead up to Christmas.

The beginning of tonight’s episode saw just how anxious Todd has become around Theo, as he fretted over which breakfast foods his boyfriend would approve of. Fortunately, Theo appeared to be in a pleasant mood, offering to make a healthy lunch for them after their latest run.

He then moved their full length mirror from the bedroom into the living room, in order for them to “keep track” of their bodies.

Theo’s upbeat demeanour continued into the afternoon but was ruined by the unexpected arrival of James Bailey, who brought over some foam rollers to help with their training. The scaffolder was visibly annoyed as James demonstrated the equipment on Todd.

When James headed off, Todd tried to make conversation with his boyfriend, but was stopped in his tracks as he saw Theo’s angry expression. Theo accused Todd of flirting with the PT, telling him that he was being played as James only wanted him as a client.

Grabbing Todd by the shoulders, he shoved him in front of the mirror and aggressively taunted him. Todd tried to resist, telling Theo not to push him around but that only made him angrier.

“If you want me to push you around, I’ll push you around,” he fumed before slamming Todd’s head into the mirror, causing a bloody wound.

The pair stood in front of the smashed mirror in disbelief, with a panicked Theo suddenly trying to tend to the injury. After brushing off the severity, Theo agreed that Todd needed to go to the hospital, though he claimed the incident was due to a “tug-of-war”.

“I keep hearing the crack as you fell into the mirror,” he recalled. “Imagine if I hadn’t been there? And you’d knocked yourself out cold… it doesn’t bear thinking about. I am gonna wrap you up in cotton wool from now on.”

Though Todd appeared bewildered by Theo’s rewriting of history, he chose to stick to the same story as the doctor patched him up. Back at home, Todd tentatively questioned Theo as he once again avoided blame.

The father-of-two became instantly defensive and later took his anger out on Todd by forcing him to eat a deliberately cold meal, while playing the victim regarding the day’s events.

Meanwhile, Theo’s nasty behaviour will progress over the festive period with an upcoming special episode. The story will shine a light on domestic abuse in a same-sex relationships and will include format-breaking elements which haven’t been used in the genre before.