The rejection is very painful for the character.
Coronation Street star Bill Fellows says his alter ego Stu Carpenter is left “heartbroken” when his daughter Bridget rejects him in upcoming scenes.
When Stu revealed to friend Yasmeen Metcalfe (Shelley King) that he hadn’t seen his daughter for a number of decades, she made it her mission to track the woman down – despite Yasmeen’s granddaughter Alya Nazir (Sair Khan) warning her that Bridget might have a very good reason for distancing herself from Stu.
We have yet to learn what caused the family estrangement, but after his initial anger over Yasmeen secretly finding her address, Stu heads to Bridget’s home for a reunion. Unfortunately for him, his arrival does not go down well at all as she sends him away immediately.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com and other media about the storyline, Fellows reveals Stu’s reaction. “He’s heartbroken; he’s absolutely heartbroken I think.
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Asked how Stu is feeling prior to knocking on that door, the actor says: “When he walks up to the door [there’s] a lot of fear, he’s frightened of being rejected. But it’s fear and excitement, isn’t it: ‘It might work out, it might be great!’ He’s willing to take that risk.”
But that risk just doesn’t pay off, and Fellows admits that Stu was happier when he could live in hope – something which is entirely destroyed when a parcel he sends to Bridget is returned and he is subsequently rejected.
“It’s kind of wonderful the faith he has,” Fellows continues. “He sends these gifts and he doesn’t get anything back. And that’s good enough, [that] at least she might have got it. So when the present comes back with ‘return to sender’, it’s heartbreaking because he had a little bit of hope that he knew where she was.
“But that’s all smashed because now he has no idea where she lives or anything. He had a possibility, but that possibility was taken away completely.”
Following the unsuccessful visit, Stu doesn’t tell Yasmeen what happened.
When asked why this is, Fellows replies: “Now he’s been rejected and hurt really badly, and maybe understandably so, as we’ll find out later. But ultimately I think he feels ‘I don’t want to talk about it any more.’ D’you know that awful thing, almost like grief?
“He wants to put it in the past now. It’s a way of saying ‘Can we all just forget it now?’ without losing face and saying he was rejected.”
You’ll just have to wait and see whether that’s the end of the road for Stu and his daughter, but there’s also the matter of an explosive secret to deal with.
Fellows has opened up on his shock over his character’s past, but viewers will have to tune in to find out exactly what Stu is hiding.
Could this be the reason his family have cut him off?
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