Coronation Street star Paddy Bever reveals future of Max's storyline
Coronation Street spoilers follow.
Coronation Street star Paddy Bever has revealed the future of Max Turner's storyline following his return to screens.
Viewers caught up with Max this week as he struggled to put his life back together in the STC, after his radicalisation by Griff's right-wing extremist group last year.
Max continued to struggle as new teacher Daniel Osborne turned up at the STC, but while he encouraged the students to write a diary entry, things didn't go to plan.
Daniel was forced to mediate as an argument broke out among the students, leaving Max to nick his teacher's phone and use it to record a private diary entry in his cell.
"This is the lowest point we have seen Max at," Paddy Bever explained. "Max has had a long life of difficulty but this is a period where all of that stops and he is forced to reflect on it all.
"Max hasn’t had a happy life and at the moment he is sitting in a cell, with nothing to do, and he is thinking about everything that he has done wrong and what has happened to him in his life. He debates the point of carrying on. He expresses thoughts of hopelessness and he is experiencing a lot of pain."
Max tries to make a connection with his teacher Daniel, with whom he's not always had the easiest of relationships, even prior to his radicalisation.
"Daniel has a relationship with Max that goes back a while and having reflected on the past few years, Max feels a lot of guilt and shame about his past with Daniel," the actor pointed out.
"This is a last ditch attempt for Max and, everything left in him, he puts towards communicating with Daniel. He would rather do that than speak with David because he loves David too much and he fears that he would worry him. He feels guilty that he has already put David through too much."
Unfortunately, Max's relationship remains "strained" with father David Platt even though the latter has promised he will always support Max.
"Their relationship is quite strained because Max feels like David does so much for him and he constantly feels like he is letting him down, so he really struggles with that," Paddy added.
"Max feels like he is constantly making mistakes then apologising, then making mistakes then apologising and he feels like he has gone too far with things. Max can’t forgive himself so he can’t see David forgiving him either even though he does forgive him. But there will be a point where Max is forced to express his feelings to David."
Max ultimately finds susprising support from a fellow STC student, Gav, as they both try to navigate this tough period in their lives.
"Gav is quite respected within the STC and before they met, this was something that Max feared," Paddy noted. "But Gav has got this wonderful energy about him which is so upbeat, playful and fun and Max has really lacked that in his life. For years, he has had no fun!
"Max has missed out on a lot of childhood and I think there is something quite child-like about Gav. Noah brings that into the character really well and Max is attracted to the idea that life isn’t always miserable. It’s a lovely feeling for Max because Gav brings light relief in Max’s life which, for years, has been very dark.."
The National Television Award winner stressed how "important" it is for Max to have someone he can confide in.
"The thing that drives Max in life is his need to find a family or a replacement for the parents that he has lost, the problem is that he trusts people too easily and then he loses them, or they betray him and let him down, or they take advantage of him," he said.
"Max can’t cope with being a solitary person; he doesn’t trust himself and he doesn’t feel confident. Gav is someone who powers through life with this wonderful, energetic charm and that is so different to how Max behaves so he needs someone like Gav to lift him up and balance him out."
Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.
Read more Coronation Street spoilers on our dedicated homepage
If you're concerned about someone who's expressing extremist or hateful views then ACT Early has further information. If you've seen or heard something that could potentially be related to terrorism, then report via www.gov.uk/ACT or call 0800 789 321.
If you've been affected by racism and racist hate crime, then organisations including the Equality and Advisory Support Service (EASS), the Monitoring Group, Stand Against Racism and Inequality (SARI) and Stop Hate UK are among those which can offer help and support.
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