The Green-Eyed Monster is alive and well in Coronation Street.

Jealousy drives Theo Silverton’s (James Cartwright) possessive behaviour towards his boyfriend Todd Grimshaw (Gareth Pierce). The tiniest bit of male attention, no matter how innocent, can send this abuser into a violent rage and Todd pays the price.

So Coronation Street fans will be fearing for Todd upcoming episodes when the sinister scaffolder finds a new reason to be insecure – Nick Tilsley.

This toxic behaviour is nothing new. Ever since Theo’s wife ended their marriage due to his cheating and refusal to accept his own sexuality, he’s never stopped finding ways to blame Todd.

Audiences were chilled to the bone when Theo lashed out in shocking scenes and smashed Todd’s face into the mirror – all over some paranoid fantasy about James Bailey supposedly flirting with Todd.

We’ve also seen Theo fly off the handle about Todd’s friendship with his ex-boyfriend-Billy Mayhew… which was apparently justification enough for Theo to leap into bed with businessmen Pete Lang in a manipulative act of revenge.

Because of how little it takes to provoke Theo’s anger, Todd is constantly walking on eggshells. He’s distanced himself from family and friends and spent more time hiding from the world in the flat, in the hope that nothing sets him off. But sooner or later, Theo’s green eyed monster always rears its ugly head… and that’s exactly what will happen at George and Glenda’s joint party.

As the guests gather, Nick chats to Todd and suggests they go for a run together. Then Sarah cheekily lets slip that Nick was Todd’s first ever crush. What should have been a fun cringey memory to laugh off together instantly becomes a red rag to a bull for Theo. He glares daggers at Todd, waiting for the opportunity to punish him…

… And that opportunity comes when Christina’s annoyed to discover Glenda failed to order a cake. Theo volunteers himself and Todd to fetch a new one, like butter wouldn’t melt.

But as soon as they’re alone, Theo blows his top and confronts Todd for flirting with Nick. Despite Todd’s best attempts to reason with him, tries to reason with him but Theo refuses to listen, climbs in the car and drives off… leaving Todd stranded in the cold.

Given Theo’s past outbursts of sickening physical and psychological abuse, one could be forgiven for thinking that Todd’s getting off light by comparison – and therein lies the success of this story.

Coronation Street has perfectly captured the terrifying reality of being trapped in an abusive relationship; those quiet moments of dread praying that someone doesn’t say the wrong thing and upset the applecart.

The fear, the isolation, the constant tension of ‘what will he do this time?’

In a special two-hander episode, viewers will get a terrifying glimpse of how dangerous Theo can be when his possessiveness spirals out of control.  Is Todd’s nightmare about to get a whole lot worse?