Poison on the Street

BY CATH BENNETT

TWISTED Teresa Bryant reaches new levels of manipulation in upcoming episodes of Coronation Street, as she poisons ex-husband Jerry Morton.

Since returning to Weatherfield the scheming mum of five has created waves after conning taxi driver Lloyd Mullaney into believing he had drunkenly fathered her son Finlay.

Bryant, who is played by Karen Henthorn, has also wriggled her way back into Jerry’s home in the wake of his heart attack, but is rapidly outstaying her welcome.

In a bid to stay put, she gives him an overdose of his warfarin medicine – something which viewers might see as evil, but which Henthorn defends as desperate.

“Teresa begins to do this to Jerry as she doesn’t not want to be on her own, but most importantly she does not want to lose touch with the family as a whole really,’’ she explains.

“She’s frightened of being on her own, she’s lonely and she has no one else in her life.

“She has started to feel needed, especially by her two youngest children.’’

Henthorn believes Teresa justifies her actions by reminding herself that Jerry himself was confused about how many pills he should take.

She is consoled by the fact that when he became unwell, Gail Platt told her that taking the wrong amount of medication will not kill Jerry.

“So when Jerry starts to pressurise Teresa about finding a flat for herself, she reminds herself of Gail’s comments,’’ Henthorn says.

“She really believes that what she is doing will cause him no long term harm whatsoever – she believes it will only cause him to feel unwell.

“That is Teresa’s objective, to keep him feeling unwell and thus keeping him dependant on Teresa.’’

Daughter Mel has made her feelings about her mum clear, and last month even offered to cancel her holiday rather than having Teresa, who mistreated youngest kids Kayleigh and Finlay, stick around with her dad. And it seems unlikely the policewoman will be won over by her scheming mother.

“I think ideally she would love to build bridges with Mel, but I think in her eyes it’s probably too much like hard work,’’ Henthorn says.

“She is quite thick skinned.

“It would probably mean she has to take some responsibilities for her actions and she is just not prepared to do that.’’

While Teresa’s actions hardly seem those of a woman in love, Henthorn insists her character cares about her former husband.

“There has been some re-kindling of their feelings for one another – which of course makes her poisoning of him all the more difficult,’’ she says.

“Jerry understands Teresa much more than most people and therefore is more forgiving of her than anybody else.

“She actually does care for him and does not like the fact she is making him unwell, but she is selfish and she is just trying to remain around.

“She is not thinking of the long term damage she may be causing him.’’

Henthorn, who appeared in Eastenders a decade ago as Nigel Bates’ love interest Julie Haye, admits she enjoys playing the wicked witch of Weatherfield.

“I love the character, she has been written with a sense of humour, quite a lot of vulnerability and a reason for the way she behaves,’’ she says.

“She is not just nasty, she’s misguided.

“I don’t really see her as a bad character, I just see her as confused and a little bit lost.’’

Coronation Street, TV ONE, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7.30pm.

- AAP