Mikey North has recently received similar abuse levels to when his ‘Coronation Street’ character was "hated" in his early years on the soap – but feels "better equipped" to deal with it now.
The ‘Corrie’ star used to hear people shouting "murderer" at him in street because of his alter-ego Gary Windass, and while his character is now back to his bad boy ways – which saw him recently responsible for the factory roof collapse, which led to the death of Rana Habeeb (Bhavna Limbachia) – Mikey is "enjoying" his latest scripts.
He said: "It is like going back to the early days of bad Gary when he was hated and I get people shouting murderer at me in the street, but it is in slightly better humour than it was when I was 21 and I am better equipped to deal with it.
"But it’s great, it is always good to play someone so interesting and I’m really enjoying getting the scripts and getting my teeth into it. I’m loving it.
Without a doubt this has been my most enjoyable year so far, I feel like I have really got into his psyche and have a clearly defined character, he is a villain and he is a nasty piece of work but he is becoming more clever with it which is good to play."
Mikey believes Gary’s lack of "fear", which has come about since his split from Sarah Platt (Tina O’Brien), will ultimately be his downfall.
He added: "After everything that has happened to him from way back in the army, losing his friend, getting involved in the security work, he has lost all fear of consequence and feels almost as if he has nothing else to lose.
"Apart from his kids, who he doesn’t see as much as he would like, he is pretty much a lone wolf.
"As far as I am concerned when he lost Sarah he kind of gave up caring any more or fearing anything. That makes him dangerous and I am sure that will be to his detriment in the end."
But ‘Corrie’ have hinted Gary could hook up with Maria Connor (Samia Longchambon) in the coming weeks after he helps her out next week.
Mikey previously said: "It’s so far off, but I know it has been planned for ages.
"I’ve known about it since Christmas time but it’s just not happened yet, but it is happening and it all ties into the next big storyline for Gary."
Mikey North ‘better equipped’ to deal with Gary Windass abuse
