Will she stand by him?

By Laura Denby

Published: Monday, 22 August 2022 at 12:00 am


Yasmeen Metcalfe (Shelley King) faced a huge dilemma over Stu Carpenter (Bill Fellows) in tonight’s Coronation Street (22nd August).

Recently, Yasmeen received an almighty shock after beginning a tentative romance with Stu, as his ex-wife Lucy (Lynda Rooke) turned up and revealed his secret past: Stu had been to prison for the murder of a young woman named Charlie.

Stu insisted that he was innocent, but Yasmeen had already endured far too much in her life and she threw him out. But when he returned to the house and explained that a corrupt detective had forced his confession, Yasmeen became distressed and her grandson Zeedan Nazir (Qasim Akhtar) brought police officer Craig Tinker (Colson Smith) round.

With Stu’s criminal record against him, he was soon arrested and sent back to jail. But Zeedan couldn’t shake the feeling that there was some truth behind Stu’s words, and he asked solicitor Adam Barlow (Sam Robertson) to access Stu’s case files. Yasmeen was upset at the betrayal, but eventually even Zeedan’s sister Alya (Sair Khan) began to grow intrigued.

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Bill Fellows as Stu Carpenter in Coronation Street.
ITV

Zeedan and Alya paid for the files and tonight, they were faced with the grim details of Charlie’s death. At first, the siblings concluded that Stu must have been guilty. But then Adam pointed out that the tapes they had listened to had over 10 hours of questioning on record, which was illegal and inhumane for any suspect.

He also noted that a tape seemed to be missing, and Alya realised that the confession they’d heard Stu making no longer made sense. She therefore headed to the prison to see him, having also tried to persuade Yasmeen to join her. To Stu’s surprise Yasmeen suddenly appeared, and Alya left the pair alone to talk.

Yasmeen implored Stu to admit everything, suggesting that if he did, they might still be able to move on as he had served his time. But Stu replied that he simply couldn’t lie. He held his hands up to having an affair with Charlie, which he claimed explained why his DNA was present on her body. But he maintained that he had not killed her, before giving her the name of his solicitor at the time and pleading with her to talk to him.

Later, Yasmeen, Alya and Zeedan met with Norman who confirmed Stu’s story. He revealed that Stu was his biggest regret and “the one that got away” as far as his cases were concerned. He had been young on the job and unable to help prove Stu’s innocence, but he was certain that Stu was no killer.

Yasmeen was then concerned when Zeedan took a call from Craig which informed them that Stu would be released later in the week. Alya felt that they should offer Stu his old room back, but Yasmeen was torn despite seeming convinced by all that she had heard.

Will she stand by Stu and help him clear his name, or decide that she has been through enough and doesn’t need the stress of this situation on her mind?

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