When Michelle Connor lets Alex move in, will Ryan Connor move out? Coronation Street newbie Dario Coates explains Alex is loving the idea of having a new mum, isn't he?
"As a teenager he’s going through a bad time with his ‘parents’. They’re divorcing, he hates Wendy’s boyfriend and he wants out." He also tells Michelle that he’s never felt like he belongs with Nick and Wendy. Is that true?
"He’s being genuine. He tells Michelle that he’s always felt like an outsider in what he believed was his own family. He’s relieved because he now knows why." So would he really just turn his back on Nick and Wendy now?
"He wants Michelle, the woman who gave birth to him, to be his real mum. He really, really likes her. She seems much younger and much more exciting than Nick and Wendy." Does maybe just a bit of him resent that he missed out on her being his mum for all this time?
"He doesn’t blame Michelle for anything. On the other hand though he blames Nick and Wendy for not understanding him." He can’t like having to sneak around and meet Michelle? Is that why he gatecrashes the wedding?
"He’s not trying to cause trouble. It’s just when he hears about Liam’s wedding, he’s desperate to go because he wants to meet the rest of his ‘real’ family – his grandparents most of all." And he’s gutted when Michelle makes it clear that she doesn’t want him there... or indeed any unplanned visits.
"She tries to explain the delicacy of the situation to Alex and how he can’t just turn up whenever he feels like it. He’s upset and even more unhappy when Michelle expects him to return home with Nick and ends up going AWOL." But it gets him what he wants when the police pick him up for shoplifting and return him to Michelle, not Nick.
"He tells them his mum’s kicked him out and that he lives at the Rovers so they take him back there and Michelle ends up agreeing to let him stay." Which doesn’t go down at all well with Nick.
"I totally understand why Ryan‘s so resentful. It must feel to him as if Alex is trying to take his place." Could it be that’s what he’s really trying to do?
"No it’s not. He wants to be friends with Ryan. He can’t see why they can’t both be Michelle’s sons. But it’s never going to happen. Ryan’s not ever going to forgive Alex for trying to steal Michelle."
