A new year on Coronation Street will see shock, danger and a killer who has everyone on the cobbles worried, according to the show’s producer.
Iain MacLeod gave a hint of the stories in store for the soap in 2023, which include a potential serial killer and a “bad boy” set to turn heads.
The new year will see Stephen Reid, played by Todd Boyce, come under suspicion over the disappearance of Leo Thompkins, whose body was dumped in a bin by Stephen after he killed him.
MacLeod said: “Needless to say, in a soap no bodies ever stay buried for long.”
The producer said fellow actors were worried by the prospect of a serial killer, who he described as having shades of classic Corrie villain Richard Hillman.
“I know whenever you’ve got a serial killer on a soap the whole cast is worried,” he said.
“If I ever ring an actor in and say can you pop in for a chat they’re like ‘well that’s it, Todd’s going to do me in’, so it’s quite funny in that respect.
“Lots of people should be worried.”
He said 2023 would also see drama brought to the street by newcomer Damon Hay, played by Ciarán Griffiths, who is the brother of jailed drug dealer Harvey Gaskell.
MacLeod described Damon as a “dangerous character” who was set to upend the lives of those on the Street.
He added: “There’s something about a bad boy isn’t there? He’s got this kind of magnetic attraction for a notable high profile female character in the show, having her head turned in a way that has very far-reaching consequences.”
He said there could be scope for a return at some point for Harvey, played by Will Mellor who recently reached the semi-final of Strictly Come Dancing.
He said: “I don’t think his status as a legendary hard man has been too diminished by putting on a sparkly shirt on a Saturday night.”
The soap’s younger cast will be at the heart of one of the biggest storylines for the show in 2023, MacLeod said.
He said: “We’re hoping that it’ll be one of those Coronation Street stories that shocks people a bit and provokes awkward conversations in front of the television.”
The new year will also see the culmination of a storyline which has seen teenager Max Turner groomed by a far-right gang.
MacLeod said: “He will, over the course of 2023, realise the error of his ways and a lot of what we’re doing after that is about him being de-programmed and un-brainwashed.
“There’s a redemption for him on the horizon after all of what he’s been through. It reaches its climax in the first couple of months but the after effects, like with all our stories, last for a very long time after that.”
Macleod said Summer Spellman, actress Harriet Bibby, would be saved “from oblivion” by her “three dads” Billy Mayhew, Todd Grimshaw and Paul Foreman after a storyline which has seen her agree to sell her baby to a couple.
And, he said there could be more in store for the three father figures.
He added: “Romance is in the air for two of them, I’ll leave you to try and guess which of them it might be.”
