Coronation Street's Canadian killer is murdering Canuck stereotypes

It's a wild time to be a Canadian Coronation Street fan. While about 800,000 people across this country tune in to "Corrie" every week, right now they've got one of their own wreaking havoc on the cobblestones: Stephen Reid, a smarmy serial killer who's destroying nice guy clichés at every turn. 

Stephen (played by Todd Boyce) is the first child of longtime resident Audrey Roberts; she gave him up for adoption to a couple who then emigrated to Canada. While he grew up into a debonair businessman who visited Weatherfield over the decades, it was only upon his return last year that he really started scheming. First, it was in an attempt to settle his debts. Then, he had to cover up the accidental death of himbo bartender Leo. Next, he killed Leo's suspicious father with a heavy office hole punch, then drowned a businessman who caught him spiking factory boss Carla Barlow's tea with LSD (a relatively easy feat on a show where no one is ever without a brew). Now, after getting caught plotting against his fiancé, Elaine, the clock is ticking. 

It's exactly why viewers tune in to the U.K.'s longest-running soap, and what got Boyce nominated for "Villain of the Year" at the British Soap Awards. Yet some fans remain split on Stephen.

"We have a sizeable portion of Canadian listeners and the reception has been mixed," says Gemma Cox, who co-hosts British podcast Conversation Street with her husband Michael Dodson. "[One reader] told us that it was nice to see the Canadian as the bad guy instead of us being the nice person all the time."

"There's a real element of camp about his story," adds Dodson. "His killing spree has been a comedy of errors."

Unlike some of the show's past serial killers — and there have a worrying number of them, for such a small street — Stephen seems to murder less out of a deep-seated evil impulse, and more because he's got serious anger issues and a toxic grind mindset. A few bodies piling up? Just the cost of doing business. 

"He gets on my nerves; he's so desperate, chaotic, and not very organized," says Toronto-based fan Amelia Robinson. "It's like, at any moment, he could either just stop completely or kill again." 

Robinson first started watching Corrie passively as a child, then picked it back up years later with prompting from a friend. Since then, she's attended two Coronation Street tours in Newfoundland (events where cast members greet fans) and maintains an ongoing Corrie chat with a friend in her 80s, Joan Bain. ("I just asked Joan what she thinks of Stephen, and she texted back: 'I find him so creepy. He's so unlikable. Probably a good actor.'")

As a speech-language pathologist, Robinson was immediately fascinated by another Stephen sticking point: his Canadian accent. With hints of Disney villain, Willy Loman, and a kowtowing Ontario politician, it's made all the odder when he spouts Britishisms like "fortnight" and "cuppa."

When Conversation Street's hosts asked their Facebook group about the accent, Dodson reveals, "One person said they thought it was terrible, and another said it was how they themselves sounded!"

To be fair, much like Boyce himself (an American based in the U.K. who grew up largely in Australia), Stephen has crisscrossed the globe, from Toronto to Manchester to his oft-mentioned "factory in Milan." And, as a con artist, his life is all about manipulation; he goes to great lengths to impress people with his worldliness, even while he's remortgaging his mother's house or secretly moonlighting as a fast food delivery driver.

Stephen's past is hardly the first bit of CanCon on Corrie. Some soaps might put characters in a coma; Corrie sends them across the pond until the writers decide what to do with them next, all the way back to the '60s when several characters emigrated to Montreal.

Despite this long-running relationship, the writers don't always get their references right. There has been some confusion about Canada Day celebrations, as well as questionable assumptions about baby moose (and whether or not they can be kept as pets). In one scene, barmaid Jenny says she's been researching Canada by "Googling documentaries about Mounties, highlights of Wayne Gretzky's career, [and] old episodes of Degrassi Junior High."

Montreal fan Nadine Fava thinks these mentions are a great way to keep Canadian fans excited, even — or perhaps especially — when the writers are taking the mick out of viewers. "Some of it is pride, but I think, for my generation especially, we find the jokes hilarious," says Fava, who was turned onto the show by her boyfriend (now husband), who watched with his British grandparents. The couple now watches with their two children, a tween and a teen, valuing its thoughtful takes on hot-button issues like cyberbullying and the alt-right pipeline. 

Even Stephen's occasionally campy storyline touches on serious topics, like gaslighting and coercive control. And it's clear that, despite his occasional arched eyebrows and clenched fists, the directors want his presence to feel genuinely chilling. Whether he's burning a victim's personal effects in a field or accidentally tripping out on acid, his scenes are some of the show's most cinematic, with nods to everything from David Lynch to Sunset Boulevard and The Tell-Tale Heart. (Also, fun fact: Stephen Reid shares a name with a notorious Canadian bank robber and author.)

And from Boyce's point of view, he's a villain, through-and-through. "The reaction in public is always fear, when people first see me," he told a Radio Times reporter at the British Soap Awards, miming a shudder.

So will the Canadian killer's eventual comeuppance be horrific, comic, or a bit of both? Will he go to prison, get killed off, or flee to the Canadian wilderness — until the writers decide to bring him back, yet again? Only time will tell (and a little more time for Canadians, who remain a few weeks behind U.K. viewers). But in the words of Conversation Street co-host Gemma Cox, "With Stephen, you have to strap yourself in and just enjoy the ride."