The following article contains spoilers from the episode of Coronation Street dated February 2. It hasn’t aired on ITV1 yet, but can be viewed on ITVX.

Even when Theo Silverton (James Cartwright) is in another town he manages to make his presence felt on Coronation Street as his abuse of partner Todd Grimshaw (Gareth Pierce) now involves him having total control of Todd’s finances.

When Theo discovered that Todd had got himself into some debt after being unemployed for a while, Theo used it as an excuse to cut up his bank cards. He told Todd it would be much simpler if he used cash from now on, but with no way to get cash himself, Todd is reliant on hand-outs from Theo.

In this episode, when Theo decided to spend the day visiting his parents in Doncaster, Todd was a bit put out that he wasn’t invited along. Theo assured him he’d be back soon and left him with a tenner for the day’s expenses.

Most of this was soon used up in the cafe when George (Tony Maudsley) found he’d forgotten his wallet and asked Todd to pay for George’s breakfast and Todd’s coffee.

We’ve seen in the past that Theo has tried his best to isolate Todd from his family and friends, and in depriving him of access to his own money he’s found a really effective way to do that. George later invited Todd to the pub with him and Christina (Amy Robbins), but Todd only had a few coins left after doing a bit of shopping. Even though George said he was paying, Todd knew he couldn’t go to the pub without the means to get a round in himself, so he said no.

He was expecting Theo back at any moment, but then he got a text from him saying he would now be staying in Doncaster overnight. Todd was left facing an evening on his own, with nothing much to eat apart from cornflakes and tinned tomatoes.

Todd is at a particularly low ebb after the death of his best friend Billy Mayhew (Daniel Brocklebank) – the one person who knew what was going on and was going to help Todd escape from Theo. Being isolated from his friends and taking away his financial independence has left him incredibly fragile, coming after months of enduring Theo’s manipulation, coercion and violence.

Corrie producer Kate Brooks described Theo’s manipulation of Todd now he’s at his most vulnerable.

‘We’ll see him starting to draw and pull Todd back into his fold as Todd needs him and needs that support. He feels like he needs somebody to keep him afloat and Theo is that person,’ she said. ‘We know what Theo’s like, we know what he’s capable of, we know the hell he’s been putting Todd through, but we also know that Todd is extremely vulnerable and he’s exposed at this point.’

The story is set to continue for some time because, as Kate said, ‘It’s not something that’s wrapped up after a couple of months, this is ongoing.’ But there is perhaps some light at the end of the tunnel and there’s a possibility that Theo taking control of Todd’s finances could be what alerts Todd’s friends to what is really going on.