Coronation Street star implies more than one person may be dead

My money’s on Maggie. (Picture: ITV)

One murder in Coronation Street’s much anticipated Whodunnit week already had fans glued to their screens. But TWO murders? Surely, there won’t be double death on the Cobbles? Actress Pauline McLynn, who plays killer landlady Maggie Driscoll, begs to differ…

Corrie is already spoiling us. Five of their biggest villains are at the top of their diabolical game, and all five could very easily be the body that  Betsy Swain (Sydney Martin) discovers at Swarla’s wedding in the soap’s most ambitious Whodunnit to date.

Among the rogues gallery are violent abuser Theo Silverton (James Cartwright), bunny-boiling baddie Jodie Ramsey (Olivia Frances-Brown), and cheating truth-allergic love-rat Carl Webster (Jonathan Howard). Also on the list is predatory child groomer  Megan Walsh (Beth Nixon) and the grandmother of the underage boy she groomed, Maggie Driscoll.

It could be anyone… (Picture: ITV)

Out of all the wrong’uns in this rogues’ gallery, Maggie has the shortest list would-be killers waiting to do her in.

Her son Ben Driscoll (Aaron McCusker) may be furious at his mum for hiding the fact that is real dad was Jim McDonald (Charles Lawson) all these years. But that may change should he discover that his dear old Ma pushed Alan – the man that he thought was his father – down the stairs.

Maggie nuked her relationship with Ben thanks to her baby-daddy bombshell (Picture: ITV)

Maggie doesn’t have the best relationship with her grandson Will Driscoll (Lucas Hodgson-Wale) right now either since she’s been actively keeping him away from Megan. The poor lad’s still brainwashed by his abuser. But enough to kill his grandma? Doubtful.

Then of course, there’s Megan herself.

It would be easier to list who’s NOT got a reason to what the child abusing athletics coach dead, since both the Driscolls and the Barlows are baying for her blood. But Maggie’s already had a run-in with the monstrous Miss Walsh before when she tracked her down to her new flat and warned her to stay away from Will. When Megan wouldn’t listen, Maggie shoved a pregnant Megan, who claimed she lost the baby because of the attack… when it fact she got a secret termination.

Since Maggie is a very plausible threat to her life, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that Megan will kill her in self defence.

Maggie has been close to killing Megan before. (Picture: ITV)

Is it possible that Maggie will suffer a grisly fate this week. Actress Pauline McLynn certainly thinks so. During a recent chat with Metro, she revealed that the character was designed to die while sharing her thoughts about Maggie’s spot on the murder list.

‘It’s nearly the biggest compliment I’ve been paid for a long time! I’m not interested in nice people. I far prefer to be a villain. I will say this, when I joined the show, I was told that the plan for the character was to kill her. So we shall see!’

The actress also teased that if Maggie does die, there’s a distinct possibility that she may not be the only one!

‘I think you’ll find when you watch all of the five stories that it’s very possible more than one person is dead, that’s another thing I will say. And the third thing, is that the wonderful Kate Brooks said to me once, you’re going to get a set of scripts and it looks like you’re dead – and you might be. I just wanted to warn you! We don’t know.’

The actress went on to tease Maggie’s grim demise, suggesting she ‘seems very dead’.

‘I do seem very dead at the end of the week. Assume nothing. You might be being fed one thing which is true, but it could be more than one. It’s also brilliantly clear that any one of the five could be a killer, whether or not they’ve killed the person you believe to be dead or not. It’s brilliantly seeded in. There is a justice in Coronation Street, if you do a crime, you have to pay the price.’

Megan groomed Maggie’s grandson Will. (Picture: ITV)

Pauline’s prediction could very well come true, especially if tonight’s episode is anything to go by.

After escaping from a botched kidnapping by Eva Price (Catherine Tyldesley), Leanne (Jane Danson) and Toyah Battersby (Georgia Taylor), Megan is nursing a bloody nose when she finds herself face to face with Maggie…. on a high ledge, where either woman could easily fall to her death.

Has Maggie met her match? Pauline McLynn gives us the details.

‘I’m not convinced she’s scared of Megan, but she may indeed have met her match. I had some time off recently and I spent time in Dublin. People thought ‘oh Maggie’s going to be fun!’ But now she’s a weapon. And I think Megan is a weapon. They recognise one another.’

‘Unlike sharks, they’ve decided to not swim around each other. Megan crossed the line, she’s tried to hurt one of Maggie’s boys, and this is whatever justice is given to her – possibly by Maggie or other people. In a recurring drama, this is justice.’

But Megan’s escaped justice before, and she’s got her own card to play against Maggie.

In tonight’s episode, she overhears the short-tempered landlady talking with Will’s mum Melanie (Cindy Humphrey), who kept in contact with Maggie’s other son Finlay. Therefore, she knows how Maggie shoved her husband Alan to his death all those years ago… and now, so does Megan.

Melanie reveals Maggie’s darkest secret… unaware that Megan’s listening. (Picture: ITV)

Tonight, when Maggie arrives for a showdown, Megan plays her trump card and tries to blackmail Maggie into staying away with a recording on her phone as-good-as admitting to killing her husband.

Unfortunateley for Megan, she does the blackmailing in the worst possible place – a flight of stairs, just like the one Maggie pushed Alan down. Pauline McLynn reflects on the delicious irony and what it promises.

‘It was a tragic accident when Maggie’s husband fell so tragically down the stairs and died’. She laughs. ‘The line had been put in you know I can, I’ve done it before. At this stage, I don’t mind if people do think it’s murder. She’s so far put to the pin of her collar, why not. We haven’t seen whether I do push her down the stairs!’

Megan finds herself at the mercy of Maggie. Gulp. (Picture: ITV)

Is Maggie going to kill Megan?

‘She’s capable of anything.’ Pauline insists. ‘Which is great. I think there is so much joy in being let loose on a story and such great storytelling. You’re in for such a treat for the week and beyond. It gives you the joy in being able to just go for it. As long as you can ground it in some empathy or reason why people are doing what they’re doing, I believe you are allowed to luxuriate in the decisions you’ve made, or deal with them. 

‘One dodgy decision, you have to keep covering that up. In that way, I think Maggie has reached the point where she is capable of anything. She’ll worry later about how to deal with the fallout. That’s a brilliant and liberating place to be.’

Is this the end for Maggie? Pauline’s giving nothing away, but it certainly sounds like goodbye as she reflects on her time on the Cobbles and her feelings about being involved in the Whodunnit.

‘It’s a huge compliment to be part of it. And off the back of the wedding of the year as well. As it’s Corrie, while there is a happy event, some terrible things are happening. You’re in for five mini films during the week and like all movies, there’s trailers as well, that was fascinating. I’ve been in the business 40 something years now, but there were things we did during the week that was so filmic. It was really fascinating to be part of all that process as well. It means as an actor you’re growing all the time.’

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