Peter Barlow

[lizann]

peter is best with leanne i think

[Chloe O'brien]

peter is best with leanne i think

Your not alone Lizanne. Peter & Leanne all the way. Come on Corrie get your act together.

[Chloe O'brien]

peter is best with leanne i think

Your not alone Lizanne. Peter & Leanne all the way. Come on Corrie get your act together.

[Perdita]

Chris Gascoyne has teased his Coronation Street return, saying that his character Peter Barlow has "changed" during his time away.

The actor, who was last seen on screen in July, told the Radio Times that Peter is "in a much better place" after spending five months in Los Angeles with girlfriend Carla Connor (played by Alison King).

However, he hinted that trouble may be in store for the couple when they return to Weatherfield this month to find Peter's ex-wife Leanne preparing to marry former husband Nick Tilsley.

Commenting on Peter's latest claims to have stopped drinking, Gascoyne said: "I do think [Peter's] changed. Being away was a good thing for him and he's in a much better place.

"He may got sucked into his old way of life now he is back in Weatherfield but at the moment he's fighting that temptation."

Gascoyne revealed that Peter and Carla have a "tempestuous" relationship and something is "not quite right between them".

"It's hard to put a finger on it, but you do get a sense that it's not quite as it should be. They're not 100% together with each other at the moment," he explained.

Peter is "shocked" to hear of Leanne's engagement, he added.

Gascoyne said: "I think he wants the best for her and wishes her well, but I think he still does have deep feelings for her and believes she has feelings for him. I think Peter doubts whether Nick is truly the person Leanne should be with.

"But it does really boil down to Peter and his ego - he cannot stand to see Leanne wanting to marry Nick Tilsley, really."

Earlier this month, it was reported that Peter is to split with Carla, leading him to try to win Leanne back.

Read more: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s3...#ixzz2DoHu9Fs6

[Glen1]

"he cannot stand to see Leanne wanting to marry Nick Tilsley, really."
He couldn't stand before he went away, so nothing's changed then.

[Glen1]

....

[Perdita]

CORRIE star Chris Gascoyne has revealed how playing *hopeless drunk Peter Barlow pushed him to the edge.

Long days of filming and his character’s terrible outlook on life became so overwhelming that Chris says he felt more like Peter than himself... and felt forced to take four months away from the soap to get his life back in order.

“After such a long stint working, I was Peter Barlow more than I was Chris,” he says. “It was constant. Long days filming then going home and learning 20 pages of script and going back the next day became too much.

“The storylines were fantastic and I loved doing it, but I lost myself.

“I found I’d got into Peter’s mindset. It was inevitable, really. Peter can be a very negative character and day after day of that misery was exhausting.

“I had to work out where his pain was coming from and feel it, but after a while I couldn’t get rid of it.”

Viewers watched Peter’s descent into misery through his desperate battle with alcohol and the agonising break-up of his family after an affair with Carla Connor.

Chris has admitted in the past that he can relate to his *character’s difficult *relationship with *alcohol, and said at the time: “I’m not saying I was ever an *alcoholic but I’ve overcome *problems with drink. There have been low points in my life and that’s where you learn and get your strength to get through it and come back to the good place.”

But in the end it was simply the *emotional *pressure of the *Coronation Street *storylines that became too much for Chris.

“Peter’s life was depressing and I knew somehow I’d lost myself,” says Chris, 44.

It was after a two-week break that the star, who was last seen on screen in July, decided he needed a proper break.

“I realised how I was f*eeling was a bit more than just being tired,” he says. “I thought I had to do *something about it.

“I told the bosses I needed some time off. They were great to let me go for all that time, and I’m very grateful.”

Chris felt under so much pressure it took extreme lengths to put him back on track. He booked himself on a Buddhist retreat in the remote Highlands of S*cotland, where there was no TV or contact with the outside world and Chris, like all guests, was expected to help with chores and follow a vegan diet.

“Most of my meditations were difficult,” he says. “My mind would jump around all over the place, but within that there were moments of great clarity.

“You have three hours off in the *afternoon and I’d go for long walks for miles or swim in the lake. Then there’s meditation in the evening, followed by a talk.

“After that you don’t speak until *breakfast and for a couple of days it was a silent retreat. It was challenging, but I enjoyed it. It gave me time to reflect and it was great to get back to myself a little bit.

“When I left I got into the car and I was driving at 20mph and it felt like I was doing 70. When I got back to normal life it seemed as if everything was speeded up... the pace of life seemed so frantic.”

The retreat had no mobile phone signal and after an initial phone call to his *family, Chris had no contact with the outside world for a week.

“That was strange,” he recalls. “I’m very close to my 10-year-old daughter Belle and we speak all the time, but to have a week’s gap was good because it made us *appreciate even more what we’ve got.”

This week Chris returns to our screens, when Peter arrives back from travelling with Carla. And he seems calmer and more reasonable than the troubled man who left the street. Viewers will also notice Peter has new look, after Chris lost two stone in his time away.

But Peter’s new-found peace is quickly tested when Carla turns to drink to help her cope with the disappointment of being back in Weatherfield.

And to make things worse, Peter finds out that his ex Leanne is planning to *remarry his love rival Nick Tilsley.

“Peter doesn’t like Nick *anyway and he’s got a problem,” says Chris. “He can’t let Nick have Leanne. He can ruin it all. Not by doing anything. Just by being there, it changes everything.”

Unlike Peter, Chris lives a settled life in Manchester with his wife – actress and writer Caroline Harding – daughter Belle and Caroline’s two sons from a previous relationship, Freddie, 16, and Pip, 14. He met Caroline 12 years ago and knew from the start that she was a single mum.

Her children were just four and two at the time.

“Once I started to get to know the boys I realised it wouldn’t be fair of me to have a relationship that lasted any length of time if I wasn’t going to stay,” he says.

“I remember walking down Brighton seafront and Caroline was on the beach with the boys. I watched them playing and made my mind up and thought: ‘Yeah, OK, I’ll go for it. I’ll do it.’ I’d just moved to Manchester to start in Coronation Street and I got bunk beds at my new place and that was it.”

Six months later Caroline found out she was pregnant with the couple’s daughter and they married the following year. “You wonder what you did before you were a dad. What point your life had,” he says.

“I did a job in Canada a few years ago where I was away for three-and-a-half weeks and I didn’t realise how much I would miss them. I love being a dad.”

Chris had a happy childhood himself, growing up in a close-knit working-class family in Nottinghamshire. But in early adulthood, tragedy struck. His older brother Ray died of cancer when Chris was only 26 and four years later he lost his father to the same disease. His mum died seven years ago when he was 36.

“We nursed them at home and were with them when they died. If I hadn’t had Caroline, Belle and the boys I think the story would have been very different,” he says frankly. “Without them I don’t know how much more I could have taken.

“I miss them all every day. I’ve still got my brother’s number on my mobile and he’s been dead for 18 years and I’ve still got my mum’s number and I still text her and it goes somewhere. I went through a stage of bitterness and life was very hard, but I’ve got a positive outlook.”

Now, after his break, Chris has no wish to leave Coronation Street. “I’d like Peter to stay *forever,” he says. “It’s where he belongs and if he did turn into his father Ken, it would be no bad thing. Peter is still evolving so it keeps my job interesting.

“The work has been easier since I *returned, but also I’m making sure I’m not getting all-consumed by it this time.

“I feel very privileged. I’ve had a lot of tragedies in my life, but I know I’m one of the lucky guys and I have no regrets.”

- MORE Corrie info at www.itv.com/corrie

[Perdita]

Carla crosses a line with Peter when she buys Leanne's share of the bookies behind his back. Will her bull-headed ways push Peter a step too far when she insists Rob works alongside him? Chris Gascoyne, who plays Peter, dishes the 'Carter' gossip in this interview...
(Warning, this interview contains storyline spoilers)

Question: How are things going between Peter and Carla at the minute?

Answer: They’re still in love. In many ways they are growing stronger and starting to understand each other more, which is important after everything that’s happened.

Q: Does Peter have any regrets over choosing Carla over Leanne?

A: He’s not allowing himself to even go there, he’s buried it deep down. There will always be something there for Leanne, because they shared so much together.

Q: How does Peter react when Carla asks him to give Rob a chance at the bookies?

A: He’s not happy about that whatsoever. I think he feels as if she’s moving on his territory in a sense. She’s got the factory so he thinks she’s invading his space, and he resents her for that. I don’t think he’s overly fond of Rob either - he certainly doesn’t want to work with him. He only agrees to for Carla’s sake really.

Q: Does Peter feel as though he needs his business life to be kept separate from his relationship with Carla?

A: The bookies is Peter’s business. He sees that as being his thing, and he wants to keep it that way. He doesn’t want Carla to step on his toes.

Q: What is it specifically about Rob that Peter doesn’t like?

A: I think that the relationship between Carla and Rob as brother and sister is becoming really complex. Rob gets jealous of Peter, and equally Peter’s jealous of Rob’s place in Carla’s life too. That’s what’s fuelling it, it’s all about egos. It’s been very well written and it’s much, much deeper than it first appears.

It will at some point explode between them I’m sure. Peter may be a little bit older than him, but he doesn’t always beat him and that’s interesting...

Q: Carla goes behind Peter’s back and buys Leanne out of the bookies. How does Peter feel about that?

A: He hates it, completely. He can’t believe she’s done that, but then he can also see that at the end of the day Carla is doing this out of the goodness of her heart. But it’s his shop and from Peter’s point of view she doesn’t need to get involved. He sees it as a line that’s been crossed by Carla. He can be quite stubborn and that’s why he just cannot deal with what she’s done. Not only that but it’s given Leanne ammunition too, so it’s hitting him from both sides. He’s not brought this on himself for once, he was happy enough and now this situation he didn’t ask for is being forced upon him.

Q: Do you think he’s also annoyed because it means one of his last ties with Leanne has now been shredded?

A: Yes I’d say so. But then they’ve still got Simon between them and she is very much his mum. She’ll always be there, and there will always be something between them. They don’t really hate each other, Peter loves her. Their history will always be there.

Q: Why are Ken and Deirdre so suspicious of Rob?

A: Maybe it’s because he’s started to date Tracy, and they know exactly what she’s like! But they turn a blind eye to what she’s like, they don’t see Tracy as the audience see her. Rob and Tracy together are not a good combination... it is bound to be a disaster for everyone involved.

Q: What tactics does Peter decide to use to try and get the upper hand over Rob?

Peter’s got it in his head that he’s older than Rob so he thinks he knows better. He’s just waiting for Rob to fail really, and he tells him as much.

Q: At what point does their feud start to put a strain on Peter and Carla’s relationship?

A: Immediately! As soon as she does what she does there is an automatic strain between them. He’ll accept anything for an easier life but he just cannot handle Rob. It also means Tracy’s hanging round the bookies as well which he hates, he’s had enough of her as well. In the end he says to Carla she has to choose between them, which is a bit childish but that’s what Peter’s like when he gets into a sulk!

Q: He’s starting to develop a better relationship with Ken. Does he like the fact that Ken shares his views about Rob?

A: Definitely! Their relationship is so much better, although that can all change in a heartbeat. Ken can just say one thing and Peter will go back to being a teenage boy! But as men they get on at the moment.

[Perdita]

Chris Gascoyne has revealed that he's learned from his on-screen son Alex Bain.

Gascoyne, who plays Peter Barlow in the soap, has said that Bain has taught him not to overcomplicate things as an actor.

Speaking to Inside Soap, the actor said: "I've learned so much just watching Alex. I've learned not to overcomplicate things, which us adults sometimes do in scenes that should be simple.

"Alex is maturing as an actor, and is starting to understand what he's doing and saying as Simon.

"I hope he never loses his spontaneity - that is what everyone loves about him. His reactions are so real."

Peter will be angry later this week as Carla buys his ex-wife Leanne out of the betting shop.

Speaking about his alter ego's feelings for Leanne, Gascoyne said: "He knows that he and Leanne will still have Simon as a link between them, since Leanne is very much the lad's mum at this point in his life. There will always be history between them.

"There will always be something between Peter and Leanne, as they've shared so much together. But at this moment, Peter and Carla are very much still in love, and very passionate about each other."

[alan45]

Coronation Street star Chris Gascoyne has spoken about Peter Barlow's upcoming business crisis, blaming his character's addictive personality for the dangerous game he plays at the betting shop.

As reported last week, Peter leaves his partner Carla Connor (Alison King) horrified when he starts offering the best odds in town at the bookies, needing a short-term fix to boost custom.


Gascoyne told itv.com: "Deep down Peter knows it's a dangerous move, but he wants to be back on top too quickly. He wants to run before he can walk.

"He's lost almost everything, so he panics and wants to get the business back to where it once was.

"Peter's feeling under a lot of strain at the minute. Carla's doing so well and he's doing very badly, and I think that's affecting their relationship."


By offering the competitive odds, Peter knows that he runs the risk of one lucky punter bankrupting him with an accumulator bet.

However, the uncertainty also gives Peter the thrill that he misses from his drinking days.

Gascoyne added: "Even when his business is on the line, it's actually quite exciting for him in a strange kind of way. Because he's given up the drink, he's always looking for that little bit of escapism."