Coronation Street bosses cut crucial line from Stephen death scene

18 October 2023 , 14:35

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Coronation Street bosses cut crucial line from Stephen death scene

As Stephen lay dying on the street on Weatherfield surrounded by many including his heartbroken mother, viewers were left with a sense of joy as the villain had not managed to escape his crimes.

But it turns out that Coronation Street bosses had decided to remove a line from Stephen Reid's final scene – where he tells his mother that he loved her. In a recap of the soap gossip, This Morning regular guest, Queen of Soaps Sharon Marshall revealed that Todd Boyce, who played Stephen, informed her of the revelation. She told This Morning viewers: "We had a little fan chat, a little event which Todd Boyce attended. "

Coronation Street bosses cut crucial line in Stephen's final scene

She added: "And he told me they cut one line of dialogue, so as he was dying he actually, originally said to Audrey 'I love you'. Director's decision but that explains why Audrey is going off saying he shouldn't have died, you're a murderer."

Audrey is taking Stephen's death even harder because of their back story, and it's also the reason why she is determined to see Peter pay for supposedly killing her son. When Stephen was born, Audrey had put him up for adoption but the pair had reunited later in life.

In an episode before his death, Stephen had blamed Audrey for creating a monster as he felt that he wasn't made to feel good enough, because he was given up as a child. This came after she confronted him over stealing £250,000 from the Underworld Factory bank account.

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In the edited-out moment, Stephen had some last words for his mum (ITV)

Viewers had waited months for residents of Weatherfield to realise that Stephen was a killer – apart from Tim Metcalfe and Peter Barlow. But on Friday last week, the villain who was responsible for three murders and the attempted murder of Tim, was killed by Peter Barlow after being run over. Stephen had nearly made a run for it as he managed to make it to the airport but realised that he had forgotten his passport.

He then came back and demanded that Jenny return his passport after realising that she had hidden it. Jenny had demanded to know what had happened to Leo and Teddy. But after a heated exchange, she told him to leave Weatherfield. She said: "Just go, run away before Audrey sees who you really are."

Despite Jenny knowing he was a murderer, a delusional Stephen still tried to convince Jenny to fly to Thailand with him to start a new life. Realising he had to make a dash for it by himself, Stephen attempted to escape but Peter ran into him, knocking him down with his car.

As he lay dying in the street, Sally screamed at him to tell her where Tim was, while Audrey sobbed and declared justice for her son. Speaking about how his cast reacted to his character, Todd told the Metro back in January this year: "I think I’ve had a scene with probably every main character on the street, which makes them all terrified, I’m sure, they know to stay away from me."

He added: "But if I get asked one more time – repeatedly, by the same people – 'so how long are you gonna be in the show?'. I’ve had people ask me three or four times, the same person, because they want to know how long they’ve got to be worried for. They’re just sweating it, they just really are. And then there are rumours about people that I don’t think I would kill, I’m being told ‘I think you’re gonna kill that person’, I’m like 'are you sure?' They’re nervy."

Lucretia Munro