He admitted that a fan told him his wife wanted to ‘run him over’ over the scenes with Yasmeen.
Coronation Street’s Ian Bartholomew says he finds it ‘uncomfortable’ playing Geoff Metcalfe.
Harrowing scenes recently saw the Corrie villain increase his efforts to control his wife Yasmeen by killing her pet chicken and serving it for their dinner.
The storyline – which has been going on for a few months – is also said to have sparked more than 100 complains to television watchdog Ofcom.
And Bartholomew spoke to The Mirror about the reaction from Corrie fans – and how he hopes people are able to distinguish him from the character.
“A coach driver at my children’s school stopped me the other day and said, ‘It’s a good job my wife isn’t driving this bus. She’d have run you over.’
“Being disliked comes with the territory. I don’t mind if people hate him. I think they should, as long as they’re not hating Ian. They know that I’m not like that.”
He added that Geoff killing Yasmeen’s chicken is a “turning point” in the storyline, as Geoff “starts to enjoy his cruelty in some twisted, perverse way.”
“I’m finding it hard and there are uncomfortable scenes, such as when he pushed his phone into Yasmeen’s face to film her. I have to put Geoff in a box and open it when I need it,” the actor added. “[But] if this storyline gives just one viewer the opportunity to recognise they’re in that sort of relationship and do something about it, then we’ve done a good job.”
