AFTER the huge success of CorrieDale, Coronation Street has got an epic year planned – and we know some of the details.
Key spoilers include the Todd and Theo abuse continuing, Carla and Lisa’s relationship progressing again, Shona’s sister Jodie arriving – and what goes down, and Debbie facing prison for Carl’s crime.
Not only will there be a slew of juicy storylines for viewers to sink their teeth into, but mid-February will see a flash-forward episode catapult onto screens.
This will reveal five potential murder victims, teasing a major spring thriller storyline.
And lastly, episodes will change from one hour to 30 minutes, allowing for better pacing and a wider spread of characters.
The soap’s producer Kate Brooks has lifted the lid.. and we have all the gossip.
THEO’S ABUSE OF TODD
In the upcoming episodes, Theo’s abuse towards Todd will not slow down.
Theo allowed Billy to die in the CorrieDale episode and will now be “ravaged by his own guilt” according to Corrie producer Kate Brooks.
“He does in his own very warped, very unhinged and tarnished way, believe that deep down he does love Todd.
“So he does everything he can to try and kind of be an absolute pillar of support for Todd [in the wake of Billy’s death].”
She also notes how Todd is a rock to Summer and George after Billy’s passing, noting how “part of this is about masking his own guilt”.
But although Theo seems to be helpful and supportive, all is not what it seems.
Kate revealed: “So we’ll see kind of Theo becoming more manipulative.
“We’ll see him start to kind of draw and pull Todd back into his fold as kind of Todd needs him. He needs that support. He feels like he needs somebody to kind of keep him afloat. And Theo was that person.
“Not only is he an absolute lifeline for Todd, but he proves to be an absolute lifeline for Summer and George as well.”
She added: “This is not something that’s wrapped up after a couple of months. This is ongoing.”
But there is a light and Todd will start to realise that maybe all is not what it seems, as well as those around Todd, too.
“Todd’s got a great surrogate family around him. He’s got George, who he absolutely adores. He’s got Summer, he’s got Christina now. He’s got Sarah, who is his BFF for life. And Gary as well, by kind of default.
“So there are people who start to look out for Todd and realise that he’s not behaving how he should be behaving. And he’s becoming a shadow and a broken shadow of the person he once was.
“So it’s how they deal with that, how they rally, how they approach something so delicate and sensitive, which will be how we kind of explore that story further,” she explained.
LISA AND CARLA’S ROMANCE
Meanwhile, for Lisa and Carla, things are on the up after Becky’s arrest.
Kate revealed: “They were engaged, so wedding bells are certainly ringing in the not too distant future. And they’ll get their happy ever after.
“They will get the chance to kind of finally be free from Becky and be free from the drama that surrounded that story and be happy and content with each other.”
She noted: “It’s going to be a romantic spring, I think, for Carla and Lisa, which will make many people smile, I imagine.”
MYSTERY WOMAN UNVEILED
Another moment in CorrieDale which will continue on into the spring is the mystery surrounding Shona’s sister, who was first seen during the epic episode.
“So the mysterious lady with the tree tattoo is called Jodie and it’s Shona’s sister,” Kate explained.
She said that the time was right to bring her previously mentioned sister into the mix and explore and unpack a bit of Shona’s backstory.
“She’s a complicated character and she comes with a lot of baggage, shall we say,” Kate said.
“And their relationship with sisters is quite broad. You know, they’ve got a lot of history between them. There’s some kind of deep seated resentment there as well.”
She also noted: “She’s a bit of a troublemaker. She’s got a bit of mischief in her eyes. All is not what it seems with Jodie and there’s a lot of layers to her.”
Kate added how there are several “secrets to explode” and said how “she is going to come and bring an awful lot of drama to kind of the Platt’s household”.
DEBBIE’S DEMENTIA BATTLE
Meanwhile, Debbie Webster’s dementia battle will also be highlighted throughout this year’s episodes.
Kate explained that Debbie is determined to take the blame for Carl’s crime after the CorrieDale crash, and is also “confused”.
“We assume that she genuinely doesn’t know that Carl has kind of interfered and swapped places with her at this point. So she’s really struggling with that.
“And she’s like, no, I’m going to face the punishment. I’m going to do what I can do. And I’m going to kind of hold my hand up and say I’m responsible for this.
“So obviously, the nature of the crime and the seriousness of it, you know, that could lend itself to a prison sentence. So she’s facing that massive kind of threat that’s kind of hanging over her.”
Kate added: “Getting sent to prison if you’ve got early onset dementia must be a terrifying prospect.”
SPECIAL FLASH-FORWARD EPISODE
It was then revealed how Coronation Street has “a special episode coming up mid-February”.
“So essentially during the course of our flash-forward episode we discover that one of our characters has found a dead body on the street and we don’t know who it is,” Kate explained.
She went on: “So there are five potential victims and the audience, we’ll take the audience on a journey for them to try and figure out who that body is and what happened, what’s the backstory to it, how did they get to that place, why did that person die when they died.”
Kate noted: “Obviously this will be quite an intriguing story, it’s our big thriller-esque story as we go into spring, early summer, it will involve an awful lot of the community.
“I don’t think I’ve ever told a story that involves quite as many character groups, it’s everyone, everyone’s impacted, everyone’s affected by the story and there are so many twists and so many turns.”
She then teased: “Don’t be fooled by what you think is happening because that might not be the case.”
FLASH-FORWARD FALLOUT DURATION
Kate went on to tease how the fallout from the flash-forward will last a few months.
“It’s a few months. It’s a scene of a character being interviewed by the police, so we understand what’s happened, we understand the context of what’s happened but we don’t actually know who it’s happened to,” she added.
Kate noted how the whole episode is not a flash forward, “It’s sections of the episode that becomes very clear that actually this is taking place in the near future,” she revealed.
EPISODE LENGTH CHANGE
Corrie boss Kate also revealed that episodes would be reduced from one-hour to 30 minutes.
She said: “It won’t feel too different how the hour longs pan out, but obviously the difference with the hour longs is that it’s an hour of drama to film.
So you need it to feel very, you know, you need every beat and every scene to feel interesting and move story forward. And that’s, you know, when you’re doing that three times a week, that’s quite a lot to sustain.
“So the episodes I think will naturally feel paced.”
She added: “There will definitely be kind of more of a spread of characters as well, you know, because we’re able to kind of dip in and out and not kind of be, you know, not kind of be constrained by the fact that there are long episodes.
“So whilst kind of the storytelling and the storylines that are currently run, you know, they’re not going to massively change. What will change is that I think the episode will feel way more paced, yeah, and will feel like, it feels like how soap should really be.”
