Coronation Street reveals surprise alliance in Gary's prison storyline

Coronation Street's Ross Wilkes has offered his help to Maria Connor as Gary Windass has landed in jail for perverting the course of justice in connection with Theo Silverton's murder.

Seeing Maria upset over her family being torn apart, Tyrone Dobbs reminded her that his dad Ross was a prison officer at Highfield.

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"Yeah, he's a screw," Kirk Sutherland said, with Ross hitting back.

"I prefer not to use that word, thank you. Makes it sound aggressive," he replied, arguing that his job was more akin to "social work".

Maria then asked Ross to look out for Gary if her husband happened to be on his wing, with Ross agreeing to keep an eye on him.

"Don't worry, eh?" Ross said with a wink as Maria appeared immediately relieved.

Fiz also offered to call round Maria whenever she needed, making her pal promise not to isolate herself. At Highfield, Ross kept his word and paid a visit to Gary in his cell.

"It's nice to see a familiar face," Gary said.

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Ross tried to comfort him, insisting that Theo deserved what happened to him and that Gary would be out soon. For his part, Gary seemed to appreciate Ross's interest, but actor Mikey North teased that the prison guard's offer might not be genuine.

The actor explained why Gary was wary of Ross at first, saying he's "definitely sceptical".

"Gary finds it really strange and doesn't quite know what's going on. Ross's behaviour and some of the things he says are quite odd," North said.

"Gary doesn't want to push back against him too much too quickly because he thinks Ross might look after him in there, but Gary is definitely sceptical and taken aback."

Coronation Street airs on weeknights at 8.30pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.

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