Did a Coronation Street star just give away who dies next week? Five villains. One murder. The soap's nail-biting whodunnit is keeping fans guessing which nefarious character will be killed, and someone might have just given the game away.
Tonight's episode of Coronation Street features the highly anticipated wedding of Carla Connor (Alison King) and Lisa Swain (Vicky Myers), which ends with a blood-curdling scream. Anyone following the latest gossip knows that fateful sound was Betsy Swain (Sydney Martin) discovering a body. Now the soap's most ambitious whodunnit officially kicks off, with five potential murder victims, all Weatherfield's biggest baddies: violent abuser Theo Silverton (James Cartwright), predatory child-groomer Megan Walsh (Beth Nixon), vengeful obsessive Jodie Ramsey (Olivia Frances-Brown), murdering landlady Maggie Driscoll (Pauline McLynn), and lying, cheating scumbag Carl Webster (Jonathan Howard), who caused the Corriedale crash.
Each villain has been in the spotlight lately, featuring in the show's biggest stories of the year, which have kept fans running wild with theories about which villain will meet a grisly fate. But one Coronation actor may have just accidentally dropped a massive clue. Beth Nixon, who plays the predatory athletics coach Megan Walsh, hinted at her 'exit' from the soap during a recent interview on This Morning. During a chat with Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley, Beth discussed the complex character of Megan and the controversial grooming story, which saw her groom schoolboy Will Driscoll (Lucas Hodgson-Wale) into an underage relationship, while teasing some exciting episodes in the pipeline.
Sharing her experience on the cobbles, Beth said it has been 'amazing from start to finish' as she told Ben and Cat: 'There's so much in it, I get to work with a lot of the greats as well. It's been amazing from start to finish.' From start to finish. Does that mean the 'finish' is already here? Quite possibly. Now that Megan's grooming has been exposed by schoolboy Sam Blakeman (Jude Riordan), she is persona non grata on Coronation Street, so much so that she has had to move into a flat away from the cobbles. But she still has Will firmly under her spell, convincing the poor lad that they are running away to Paris together.
Will's dad Ben Driscoll (Aaron McCusker) is desperate for justice. But because the devious predator has been careful not to leave a shred of evidence, Eva Price (Catherine Tyldesley), Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson), and Toyah Battersby (Georgia Taylor) have taken matters into their own hands in a quest to find evidence to bring Megan down. The girls may be determined to see Megan behind bars, but there is someone who would rather the abuser left Weatherfield in a box: Maggie Driscoll. The sharp-tongued landlady of the Rovers is devastated that her grandson was groomed and can barely restrain her rage. She has already confronted Megan once, which ended with the battle-axe barmaid physically shoving her. And we know how far Maggie will go to protect her family, ever since the reveal that she killed her husband in a rage for threatening to reveal her affair with Jim McDonald (Charles Lawson).
Coronation Street has already teased a tense showdown between Megan and Maggie in next week's special episodes focusing on each victim's 'potential last days' before the murder. And now Megan has revealed how she slept with Will in a sickening taunt to Eva, it is only a matter of time before that terrible confirmation of abuse reaches Maggie's ears. Will it push Maggie over the edge? Speaking to Ben and Cat, Beth Nixon shared what it was like to work with Pauline McLynn, who portrays Maggie Driscoll. 'It's a barrel of laughs. It's such a dark storyline so it's important to have fun when you're on set.'
'This is my first TV role so I was really scared going into it, I didn't really know what to expect. These guys are obviously super experienced so I just feel really held and they make me cackle.' Beth also touched on the dark, complex nature of her character and what drives Megan's abuse and the web of lies she spins to cover it up. She said: 'She has got a god complex about herself, so she doesn't think she is doing anything wrong ever. She believes her own lies. Even if she does something and denies it, in her brain she didn't do it because that's just the way her brain works. She's a massive narcissist.'
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