It's one of Corrie's biggest storylines ever - the Street's first ever full-on gay affair! For weeks now, we've seen Todd Grimshaw get closer and closer to nurse Karl Foster (Chris Finch), all the time clearly fighting feelings of attraction. Remember that Todd is set to marry Sarah-Lou and is father to her unborn child. Then also remember that Todd tried to snog her brother Nick, (Adam Rickitt) last year. Even by soap standards, it's pretty outrageous.

It's also a story that brings a huge responsibility - not just because it's the soap's first gay storyline in its 43-year history - but because there's a pressure to get it right. Not that Bruno Langley, 21, who's played Todd since January 2001, will allow himself to be overwhelmed by such heavy considerations.

"I try not to get bogged down with how many people will be watching or what they'll think. I try to distance myself from it in a way I go home for a bit and hibernate, pretend I'm a bear in a cave and watch DVDs and eat junk food! There is a huge responsibility but you've got to have fun as well."

The lovers' first clinch, which will air on April 12, was filmed in Manchester's gay village, reportedly to cheers of approval. So is Bruno OK about having to kiss another guy? "Oh yeah. Well, I got over all of that when I had to kiss Adam last year. We had a chat and worked things out. The same applies with Chris. I wouldn't be averse to having a drink to calm my nerves but it's more of a challenge to do it without alcohol, but it's cool!"

Prior to 'the kiss', Bruno was no stranger to press controversy, owing to his ever-so-slightly complicated off-screen love life. After he went out with his Corrie co-star Tina O'Brien, who plays his girlfriend, she began dating Ryan Thomas, who plays his brother, Jason.

Last week, Ryan spoke of his love for Tina to the papers for the first time, describing their relationship as "blissfully happy", and he added, "Me and Bruno are cool, we work together and everyone's professional about it." But Bruno remains tight-lipped about the entire situation and is obviously keen to just get on with his life.

Bruno has the sort of dark, smouldering looks of a young Oliver Reed, a compliment he's pleased with, as the late actor is one of his heroes. It's easy to spot that, like his idol, there's a touch of the rebel about Bruno.

He was suspended from school in his home town of Buxton, Derbyshire, and as he says, was a "little b****r" as a child. "Definitely, I was a little swine at school. School didn't suit me or I didn't suit school. I didn't like the way the teachers talked down to you, and if you tried to have a conversation, it was talking back. So I just acted up and behaved silly and tried to make everyone laugh."

He admits to liking a good night out as well. "For me, though, it's not about being with loads of people, just people that mean something to me, people I grew up with. It's fair to say a lot of the bars around Manchester are familiar with us!

The best nights start with 'let's see how it goes' and then it gets really bad! I'm the sort of drunk that tends to fall asleep or wander around in my own little world talking to myself, and then I may just disappear!"

He grew up in Buxton the third youngest in a family of eight. "I know all about how brothers get on! So all the stuff I have to do with Ryan is all there. I know all about brotherly arguments. The thing with growing up in a big family is everything is heightened. The good times are really, really good and the bad times are terrible."

His dad makes musical instruments and the whole family is musical - two of his sisters play in a quartet and Bruno used to play the cello until he decided to concentrate on acting after doing work experience with a theatre group.

"My dad did a great job of supporting us all, he always managed to keep our heads above water and we've got a lot to thank him for."

It sounds like an idyllic childhood, in a way, with his parents keen on giving their children freedom. "We didn't have a sheltered upbringing at all. My parents were not afraid to let us out. I pretty much had a free rein to do whatever I wanted, you know running around in a field - not naked, though!" he adds quickly and jokily. "It was all 'free love, baby'."

You then start to realise that Bruno is pretty unconventional. "I'm actually mad!" he confirms.

Playing Todd was not Bruno's first appearance in Coronation Street: a year earlier he'd played Candice's boyfriend, Darren, for a few episodes. "They brought the character back but by then I'd been cast as Todd. What was really weird was there was a scene between Todd and Darren! It was surreal, very surreal."

It's inevitable that Bruno will become something of a gay icon as his storyline unfolds. "That's OK!" he says, "It's all a kind of bonus!" He reveals he's already begun getting letters from guys identifying with Todd's situation. "Their circumstances are all different but the basis is the same - that internal struggle. I try to write back to them and I do have sympathy with that sort of conflict."

Bruno believes Todd is in denial about his true sexuality "He's completely in denial which is why he's set himself with all this responsibility -adopting Bethany, fathering another child. He sees it as being about being a man, being responsible."

We don't know yet when or how Sarah-Lou will find out, but as it's a soap, we can be sure she will and it won't be pleasant.

"I don't think much of this is going to be pleasant," says Bruno. "It's a journey and hopefully people will come along for a ride!"

He flinches. "Argh" he says, "that was a bit cheesy, wasn't it?" No, we can't wait!

© New! Magazine, 6/4/04

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