Kevin Webster faces a deadly car crash in Coronation Street as Carl Webster sets out to kill him. Seriously, what is it with Carl Webster (Jonathan Howard) and causing chaos with cars on Coronation Street? For someone who used to work as a mechanic at Webster's Autocentre, Carl is an absolute liability behind the wheel. Not content with causing the hit-and-run that put Tyrone Dobbs (Alan Halsall) in a wheelchair, his drunk driving was so bad that he crashed into another soap. The multi-car pile-up in Corriedale that claimed the life of Billy Mayhew was down to Carl, who slid his poor dementia-stricken mother Debbie Webster (Sue Devaney) into the driving seat and gaslit her into pleading guilty.
Now Carl is set to turn his record for vehicular devastation into a hat trick by planning death by four wheels for one Weatherfield resident: his brother, Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell). Well, not his brother. When Debbie dropped the bombshell that she is Carl's mother and not his sister like she pretended for years, Kevin technically became his uncle. But that hasn't made him love his nephew any more, especially since Carl destroyed his marriage by having a torrid affair with his wife Abi Webster (Sally Carman-Duttine), only to do the dirty on her as soon as things got boring.
To Kevin's frustration, Debbie has always been Carl's staunchest (and only) defender. Even when she was facing prison for her no-good son's crimes, Kevin couldn't persuade his sister to tell the truth about the crash. When Debbie was released from prison, the Worst Webster continued to take advantage of his mother's love by using her like his own personal piggy bank and treating her beloved Chariot Square Hotel like he owns the place – and owning the place is certainly on Carl's agenda.
The usually confident and bolshy Deb has suffered a terrible decline in her dementia recently exacerbated by her time in prison, something which her husband Ronnie Bailey (Vinta Morgan) quite rightly blames Carl for. After Carl failed to heed his warning to leave Weatherfield forever, Ronnie teamed up with Kevin to get rid of Carl for good. However, Ronnie lost his temper with Carl and ended up putting him in hospital with a well-aimed punch. In true Worst Webster style, the king of sleazebags turned his injuries to his advantage by threatening to have Ronnie arrested for assault unless Debbie signed over half of the hotel to him.
After sticking by Carl's side for so long, the scales finally fell from her eyes when she realised that the rotten fruit of her loins had been trying to extort money from Summer Spellman by offering to reveal who is truly to blame for Billy's death. Coming to the heartbreaking conclusion that her boy would never change, Debbie decided to cut ties with Carl once and for all in last Thursday's episode, after he sabotaged Swarla's wedding by trashing the bridal suite.
Summoning Carl to the hotel, she gave him an envelope full of cash and a St Christopher's medal, traditionally given to travellers about to go on a long journey – which has to be the nicest possible way of saying 'on yer bike'. Carl took the cash, but despite his insistence that he's glad to see the back of his mum, it wasn't one of his best lies. The heartbreak on his face was plain to see. He already got in a parting blow to his ex Abi by cruelly bringing up how one of her children is dead and the other two are living on the other side of the world. It's clear Carl is looking to settle some scores before he goes.
Which begs the question: what will he do to Kevin? We already know that Debbie will break the news to Kevin and Ronnie that she's given Carl his marching orders. But Weatherfield's sleaziest mechanic isn't finished with his family yet. Carl is one of five possible murder victims lined up for Coronation Street's big Whodunnit mystery. Actor Jonathan Howard has already teased his character's exit, but upcoming episodes will see the villain wreak devastation on the Cobbles one last time… and Kevin pays the price.
Licking his wounds after being rejected by his mother, Carl tries to tie up some loose ends before disappearing but ends up ruffling more feathers as he manages to wind up Abi, Tyrone and Kevin. After a text from Kevin leaves him seething, Carl commits another sickening act by secretly tampering with the brakes on his brother's car in the garage. Will Carl be found out before his latest act of malice has dire consequences for Kevin?
