Coronation Street is set to unveil the sinister past of one of its newest residents, as a birthday celebration becomes a front for a dark secret. Maggie Driscoll, played by Pauline McLynn, will mark a major milestone in upcoming episodes, but the festivities are far from joyful.
A Birthday Party Masks a Dark Truth
In scenes airing the week of Monday, 7th December 2025, the Driscoll family gather to celebrate Maggie's birthday on the Weatherfield cobbles. Having arrived earlier in the year with her son Ben (Aaron McCusker) and his partner Eva Price (Catherine Tyldesley), Maggie has settled into the community. On the surface, she appears to be a typical, if slightly catty, Irish grandmother, but audiences will soon learn she is harbouring a major – and deadly – secret from her loved ones.
A new spoiler video shows Maggie giving a speech, praising the Coronation Street residents for making her family feel welcome. While her words leave most people smiling, Eva Price remains conspicuously unimpressed. It seems Eva is the only one who can see through Maggie's façade to the toxic reality beneath.
Flashbacks Reveal a Troubled Past
As the party continues, key flashback scenes will delve into Maggie's origin story, providing crucial context for her present-day behaviour. Actress Pauline McLynn teased the revealing sequences, stating, 'It’s actually very moving when you see what happens in the flashback because it shows the difficulty of being a young mother.'
McLynn was careful not to give too much away, adding, 'I won’t say whether she was happy or unhappy in the marriage; you can decide for yourself... It’s intriguing, and it’s one of those things that you know when you see it, that this will have repercussions somewhere, somehow.' She hinted that this buried truth could be unlocked at any time, perhaps by a simple question from her son Ben.
Matriarchal Conflict Reaches Crisis Point
The tension between Maggie and Eva is central to the unfolding drama. McLynn explained her character's perspective, describing Maggie as a 'very fierce woman who's fiercely protective of the family'. This protectiveness manifests as severe disapproval of Eva.
'She may like her, and if Ben wasn’t around, I’m sure they’d get on really well,' the actress noted. 'But it’s that thing of, you can approve of somebody until they’re joining your family; then it’s a whole other set of restrictions. So far, there’s been loggerheads going on there, and she’s just so mean to Eva. It’s really about to reach a crisis point.'
With Maggie insisting on her matriarchal status – 'it’s her way or the highway' – and a deadly secret poised to emerge, the Driscoll family unit is on the brink of collapse. Viewers can expect the fallout from these revelations to send shockwaves through Coronation Street for weeks to come.
