Kicked out of the Platts', Jodie Ramsey (Olivia Frances-Brown) is in desperate need of a new sucker on Coronation Street. Along comes Daniel Osborne (Rob Mallard). Has she met her match?
The bunny-boiling baddie has made a boo-boo. Months of careful scheming, inveigling her way into her sister Shona Platt's (Julia Goulding) house to steal her family went up in smoke thanks to one stupid mistake. Jodie's slow-burn plan to punish Shona for running away from home as a teenager and abandoning her to their dysfunctional parents was starting to work. She was undermining Shona as a mother at every turn in the eyes of their daughter Lily (Grace Ashcroft-Gardner), while getting far too cosy with her sister's husband David Platt (Jack P Shepherd). But then Jodie made a text-book mistake – pretending to be her sister to lure her husband into bed.
Reeling with betrayal to discover that Shona had lied about trying to reach out when they were kids, Jodie snapped in a moment of rage and took her sister's phone, 'hearting' a flirty text from David which suggested they make the most of having the house to themselves. Then, she waited in Shona's bed, wearing Shona's lingerie and Shona's perfume, for a drunken David to stumble home into the darkened bedroom… …and then she kissed him. That's when everything went pear-shaped. It turns out that even after a skinful of champagne, David was able to tell the difference between his own wife and his twisted sister-in-law. Cue a huge fight where Jodie tried and failed to make David look a dirty cheater. No surprises, Jodie was sent packing… right before she mysteriously disappeared.
Naturally, David confessed the whole Jodie-pretending-to-be-his-missus debacle to Shona, who was understandably more concerned with her sister suddenly vanishing off the face of the earth – probably because of the thugs that came looking for her recently. Sure enough, Shona's worst fears were confirmed when Kit Green (Jacob Roberts) told her that the police are treating Jodie's disappearance as a kidnapping. Fraught, she left a voicemail for her sister, insisting that the David drama doesn't matter as she just wants her to be okay… ..cut to Jodie in precinct, sat on the swings listening to Shona's message and smiling at the cracks she'd put in her sister's marriage.
However, now Jodie's left with the problem of not having a roof over her head… one which leads her to making an unlikely new ally in upcoming episodes of Coronation Street. As luck would have it, she overhears Ken Barlow (William Roache) discussing Daniel Osbourne's (Rob Mallard) plan to visit the Lakes and decides to indulge in a bit of light squatting… … but when Jodie lets herself into Daniel's flat, she's shocked to see him there. But not as shocked as Daniel to see her there! Jodie pretends that she found a spare key on the pavement and was returning it. Daniel doesn't buy it and orders her to sling her hook.
However, Jodie soon realises that she and Daniel have something in common - family issues. The troubled headmaster of Weatherfield High is currently coming to terms with being used by his ex-girlfriend and fellow teacher Megan Walsh (Beth Nixon), who was only dating him to conceal her sexual abuse of a student, Will Driscoll (Lucas Hodgson-Wale). It's affecting his job, causing him to blow up on Hope Stape (Isabella Flanagan) when she made a snide remark about Megan in school. This resulted in Daniel's suspension from school. His 'plan to visit the Lakes' was just a cover story for his family to disguise the fact he's spiralling in the flat and drinking heavily.
So Jodie takes advantage of Daniel's secret pity party and threatens to tell his family that he isn't in the Lakes unless he lets her crash there. Will Daniel agree? To keep him sweet, Jodie gets Daniel to open up a bit as she confides that he doesn't feel ready to face the world just yet. Jodie tells him that she ran into Cassie Plummer (Claire Sweeney) and makes out that Bertie is really missing his dad, so he needs to pull himself together. It's the turning point that Daniel's been crying out for… only when he calls to collect Bertie from No.1, Daniel discovers that his little boy has been having the time of his life without him. Needless to say, when Daniel returns home, he hits the roof and blows up on Jodie for lying to him. Jodie tries to explain that she did it for his own good. Will Daniel soften?
Daniel definitely doesn't have the best track record when it comes to women. This tortured intellectual of seeking out damsels in distress which almost always ends in heartbreak. His wife Sinead Tinker tragically died of cancer, Daisy Midgeley cheated on him, and his engagement to Bethany Platt fell apart due to his lingering connection to Daisy. But this isn't the first time that sparks have flown when Jodie and Daniel have crossed. Could we be witnessing the birth of #Dodie?
