http://www.tvchoicemagazine.co.uk/in...onation-street
Is Terry bad, or just plain evil?
He's what I’d call an ordinary decent criminal. He doesn't go through life wanting to be bad, he is bad because of circumstance. He became this chancer in order to survive but there are certain lines he wouldn't cross.
Has he changed since we saw him last?
He's different in some ways, but he's still Terry.
How does he explain away the fact to Tommy that he ‘sold’ him to his maternal grandparents when he was little?
He uses his wideboy persuasiveness! And he's got quite a willing recipient in Tommy. Tommy’s desperately curious about his dad, and Tina [Tommy’s girlfriend, who recently lost her own father] encourages Tommy to give Terry a chance.
Of course, Terry has his own explanation about why he asked the Hortons to bring Tommy up. My rationale, when I was playing Terry selling his child 20 years ago, was, 'I don't want this child to grow up with Jack and Vera, look what a mess they made of me. Why should he grow up in a back street in Weatherfield when he could grow up in suburban Blackpool?’.
Six years ago you decided to put your acting career on the back-burner and retrain as a journalist. Was that a tough decision to make?
Not really. The tough decision was deciding to go to university 12 years ago. I was a good 10 or 15 years older than the kids in the Honours class. It wasn't so bad when I did my Masters. I’m a news-obsessive and I thought journalism would be a good way of utilising my academic achievement.
Acting or journalism — which do you prefer?
They’re both fulfilling in their own way. To be able to entertain people is great in itself but what I love about journalism is that you find the story, you research it, you ask the questions, you get the answers and then you put the story together. The whole process is your own. That's what I love about journalism.