Coronation Street boss lost sleep over ‘banging’ murder episodes ahead

Who will meet their maker? (Picture: ITV)

Coronation Street fans are gearing up to uncover which villain is set to meet their maker on Carla Connor (Alison King) and Lisa Swain’s (Vicky Myers) wedding day, and producer Kate Brooks has promised some ‘banging’ episodes ahead.

While Carla and Lisa have been planning their nuptials, the street’s villains have been working overtime, seemingly competing for the title of Baddest Baddie.

However, one of them will come to regret their misdeeds next week when their life is brought to a dramatic end – but who will it be, and whodunnit?

There are five potential victims in the frame, and each of them a dastardly villain in their own way.

There’s Jodie Ramsey (Olivia Frances-Brown) who, aside from meddling in the lives of her neighbours, appears to be hiding a sinister secret that could put Shona (Julia Goulding) and the rest of the Platts at risk.

Then there’s Maggie Driscoll (Pauline McLynn), whose secret affair with Jim McDonald recently came to light – not to mention that she’s hiding a murder of her own, having pushed her ex-husband down the stairs.

There are five Corrie villains at risk (Picture: ITV)

Megan Walsh (Beth Nixon) is also in the spotlight, now that her grooming of Will Driscoll (Lucas Hodgson-Wale) has been exposed, while Theo Silverton’s (James Cartwright) abuse of Todd Grimshaw (Gareth Pierce) has also put him in the firing line.

Lastly, there’s Carl Webster (Jonathan Howard), who has managed to upset almost everyone on the cobbles with his various wrongdoings, from hit-and-runs and affairs to stealing from his family and framing them for his crimes.

In an exciting build-up to the final reveal, viewers will be treated to five special episodes, each focusing on one of the potential victims.

‘As complicated as the stories are, as a viewer, it’s very easy to follow because you’re following an individual story,’ producer Kate explained.

‘It’s easy to keep track of what’s going on. We deliberately intended to make each episode feel like a mini movie, the hook being “we still don’t know who it is that’s been killed”.’

Of course, planning a story with this many moving parts takes a lot of work, as Kate pointed out.

‘It was a very complicated storylining process! I did lose a bit of sleep and my hair went a little bit greyer! Usually, in a whodunnit week, you’ve got one victim and the suspects. We had five potential suspects and had to make sure all the stories aligned, made sense and got to the right place, and came together.

‘Even in the build-up, it’s gearing up and the momentum is really strong. It could be any of them. It was about making sure the stars aligned to get this juicy week.

‘The flipside to that is, going forward, there are so many different consequences for each individual character. Then we’ve also got the whodidit? We’ve got that big story going forward, as well as unpacking what’s going on with all those other characters. It’s very complex but dead satisfying and enjoyable as well.’

Carla Connor and Lisa Swain’s wedding makes the ‘perfect backdrop’ for the drama (Picture: ITV)

She added that structuring the week of episodes in this way allowed Corrie to ‘follow different scenes and inject levity and humour’ to the episodes.

‘That enabled us to give it a bit of levity, especially in the Jodie episode. It’s really funny. David Platt (Jack P Shepherd) is really drunk at this wedding, and it is very laugh-out-loud, side-splittingly funny because Jack is amazing in it, and Sally and Tim Metcalfe (Sally Dynevor and Joe Duttine). There are all sorts of shenanigans going on. We do dip back into the wedding a little bit.’

But fear not Swarla fans! Something as insignificant as the death of a neighbour isn’t about to throw the Weatherfield wedding of the year into disarray, despite Kate admitting that it was ‘a nice backdrop to everything’.

‘Adding it to the wedding, we wanted to sell a really joyous story full of love and hope and romance, and it is a beautiful wedding. But obviously, we are a soap, so we need that backdrop of drama and excitement, but I didn’t want to tarnish the wedding either.

‘So, Carla and Lisa are oblivious. They’ve got no idea. They’re watching fireworks and watching Sally shimmy out of her jacket – which is one of my favourite moments, by the way. They’re having a great time, oblivious to the drama unfolding on the street.

‘It’s a way of getting the best of both worlds. We’ve got these really exciting stories and a big week, and preceding that is a glorious, joyful wedding about two people falling in love, oblivious to what’s unfolding.’

Kate’s enthusiasm for the week of episodes continued, as she praised the team behind them.

‘We had great writers on all those episodes, and the wedding episode, who gave it that real Corrie feel, while it still felt big and bold and different to what we’ve done before. It’s a great soundtrack. The opening of every episode is a banger. Even if you just spend the next 20 minutes dancing to the song that’s in your head! It’s really good.’

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