{"id":21392,"date":"2022-09-05T01:01:37","date_gmt":"2022-09-04T23:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1699217"},"modified":"2022-09-05T01:34:49","modified_gmt":"2022-09-04T23:34:49","slug":"coronation-street-autumn-preview-9-spoilers-as-kelly-neelan-exits","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/coronation-street-autumn-preview-9-spoilers-as-kelly-neelan-exits\/","title":{"rendered":"Coronation Street autumn preview: 9 spoilers as Kelly Neelan exits"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Laura Denby\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 05 September 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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There\u2019s an eventful autumn on the horizon in Coronation Street,<\/a> and producer Iain MacLeod has plenty of teasers in store as he chats for the first time about the ITV soap\u2019s explosive September storylines.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s \u201cdangerous\u201d Stephen Reid (Todd Boyce)<\/a>, and Toyah Habeeb\u2019s (Georgia Taylor) future is at risk. And that\u2019s before we even mention whatever secret Spider Nugent (Martin Hancock) is hiding! An exit is on the way for Kelly Neelan (Millie Gibson), plus a brand new face will be joining the cobbles.<\/p>\n

The show\u2019s boss has revealed several crucial spoilers, so read on for a mammoth guide full of hints as MacLeod teases what fans can expect in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

1. Stephen is the Street\u2019s next big villain<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Todd Boyce plays Stephen in Coronation Street. (ITV)<\/span><\/figcaption> ITV<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

MacLeod promises that Audrey Roberts\u2019 (Sue Nicholls) son Stephen will be providing much of the drama \u2013 just as viewers guessed when he made his return earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cDesperate is the word, and he will continue to get more and more desperate and more and more dark as the story unfolds,\u201d MacLeod explains.<\/span><\/p>\n

The producer says that Stephen\u2019s previous stints on the show never really explored the character, giving the soap a new opportunity this time round.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely brought him back with a slightly different spin from the one we\u2019ve seen before.\u00a0<\/span>The beauty of this character, really, is that he\u2019s got this huge longevity in terms of his connection to the show and to a heritage family. But actually, he\u2019s a bit of a blank canvas; if you think back through his archive scenes, we don\u2019t really know a lot about him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo we thought, \u2018Well actually, if we\u2019re going to fill in those blanks, and we\u2019re going to learn more about him, shouldn\u2019t we make him dark, dangerous, interesting, scheming?’\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

MacLeod said mischievous is \u201ctoo light a term\u201d, and perhaps he will be more \u201cMachiavellian\u201d. \u201c<\/span>I think he\u2019s just brought such an injection of otherness into the show \u2013\u00a0not least his accent!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

MacLeod goes on to acknowledge the viewers\u2019 reaction to Stephen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know on Twitter people are going bananas because they can\u2019t get past the fact that he\u2019s got a North American accent, but I love that about him. It just makes him feel like this kind of instantly exotic creature that\u2019s landed in Weatherfield.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The producer continues: \u201cHe\u2019s a fish out of water and doesn\u2019t quite belong there, which I think will contribute to some of the behaviours we\u2019ll see from him in the coming months and possibly years. All in all, I\u2019m really excited to have him back, and our viewers are so canny as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as he arrived everyone was like \u2018Ah, I\u2019ve got him marked, he\u2019s gonna be a wrong\u2019un,\u2019 and they\u2019ll prove to be right in no small measure. I\u2019m excited to see the audience\u2019s reaction to the unfolding story when they realise that he\u2019s every bit as desperate and dangerous as they predicted.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTodd is such a brilliant cast member and I love his performance. He\u2019s so completely over the moon to be back in this role and back in the show, and is really embracing some of the more dark and dangerous elements of what we\u2019re asking him to do. It promises to be a really brilliant story for us, I think.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Should we be worried about Audrey?<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Audrey is set for more emotional turmoil.<\/span><\/figcaption> ITV<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

It seems the answer to this question is yes, according to MacLeod!<\/p>\n

\u201cI always worry about Audrey,\u201d he reveals. \u201cI think any Coronation Street fan should and does worry about Audrey.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s quite fragile at the moment in terms of what we\u2019ve seen on-screen: she\u2019s been through this depression story, and\u00a0she\u2019s attempted to take her own life<\/a>. That makes her peculiarly vulnerable to Stephen because she\u2019s clinging onto him as something positive, the light at the end of the tunnel for her emotionally \u2013\u00a0and he\u2019s really not that, I think it\u2019s fair to say!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

However, MacLeod assures us that we needn\u2019t fear that Audrey could come to actual harm.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe won\u2019t come to be in any physical jeopardy, I should say, but emotionally the stakes for her are incredibly high. She\u2019s put all of her maternal eggs in Stephen\u2019s basket [and] she and Gail have always had a very fraught, very complicated relationship. Whereas Stephen, possibly by not having been around, has been put on this pedestal, so she definitely stands to have her heart broken in a fairly sizeable way across the course of this story.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The producer adds: \u201cHer family obviously have not always covered themselves in glory in their dealings with her. Going back a few years, David and Nick conspired to steal Lewis\u2019s inheritance that he left her. They have actually learned their lesson now, but unfortunately it\u2019s a bit too late for Audrey. She\u2019s doesn\u2019t trust them, and throwing her lot in with probably the person that she should trust the least I think is really interesting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

3. There\u2019s drama for Jenny\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Jenny\u2019s dalliance with Stephen has consequences.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Jenny (Sally Ann Matthews) is about to make a big mistake when she shares a kiss with Stephen, who is only wooing her for her money! Here, MacLeod teases the fallout of Jenny\u2019s moment of madness.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, obviously secrets never stay buried in the soap for very long, do they? Or sometimes they do stay buried for quite a while, but they always come out in the end, so inevitably this secret will come out too.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJenny thinks she\u2019s found her happy ever after, but o<\/span>bviously, in the wake of Johnny\u2019s death, she did probably rush into this relationship a bit quickly and then spent a long time torturing herself over the idea that \u2018He\u2019s too young for me, I\u2019m too old for him, is he dating me because he\u2019s got some fetish for slightly older women?\u2019 And eventually, none of that proved to be the case. He\u2019s entirely genuine and she could have her happy ever after with him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut unfortunately, she\u2019s made this mistake and again, in terms of the person she chose to make the mistake with (namely Stephen), she couldn\u2019t really have picked a worse person. So yes, it will all go off in fairly spectacular fashion across the month with long-lasting consequences for the whole show.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Toyah\u2019s huge confession<\/b><\/h2>\n
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The stakes are high for Toyah.<\/span><\/figcaption> ITV<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Toyah\u2019s turmoil is a long way off its conclusion, if indeed there is one! Here, MacLeod teases that the character will make a confession to ex-beau Spider.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe impending prospect of a life sentence for Toyah ramps up all her emotions around what\u2019s happened, and specifically what she did to Imran<\/a> and her guilt over all that. She reaches this huge emotional crisis point where she\u2019s got this burning desire to repent or just find some kind of catharsis.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe ends up unburdening entirely to Spider, talking in detail for the first time about what went on behind the wheel of that car, to what extent \u2013\u00a0or not \u2013\u00a0she feels culpable for what happened to Imran, how much of it was an accident and how much of it was deliberate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

MacLeod says she reveals all to Spider, believing he\u2019s the person she can trust the most, but in fact, he is the worst person to open up to at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t say a great deal more than that at this point, but the idea is that she\u2019s head over heels in love with this guy again and has reconnected with him instantly on his return to the Street, and feels like he\u2019s her one true friend in the world. She might not be wrong, but she\u2019s certainly making a huge mistake in confiding all of this to him, for reasons that will become apparent!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Whatever happens, we\u2019ve been promised that the upcoming murder trial could be Toyah\u2019s undoing, as she contemplates admitting everything on the stand.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s kind of on self-destruct by the time she gets up in the witness box,\u201d the producer explains. \u201cToyah, whatever you may come to think about what happened on the day Imran died, is fundamentally not a bad person. She certainly considers herself to have a good heart and has strong morals, so when she gets up in that courtroom, there\u2019s every possibility that she might just hit self-destruct in some kind of desire to atone for her sins. There\u2019s quite a lot of danger there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe performances, by the way, are fantastically good, and have been across the story as a whole anyway. But a particular word for Georgia: she\u2019s so good across this story and across these court scenes, she really is. She\u2019s not always playing the hero of the piece or the tragic heroine. She\u2019s playing very murky and tricky to portray emotions across this story and just doing it with absolute aplomb. She\u2019s blown me away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Delivering one last spoiler over what\u2019s coming up for Toyah, he concludes: \u201cThe trial\u2019s dangerous and oddly enough, the two most dangerous things in it are Toyah\u2019s desire to set fire to her own life and Spider\u2019s surprising level of threat when he discovers what Toyah claims she\u2019s done in that car.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

5. What is Spider\u2019s secret?<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Martin Hancock as Spider Nugent in Coronation Street.<\/span><\/figcaption> ITV<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

MacLeod explains that the Coronation Street team took a long look at Spider to ensure they brought the character back in the right way<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a lengthy, heated debate about, \u2018What does Spider\u2019s life look like now? Is he the eternal teenager that\u2019s still chaining himself to trees or has he had to grow up as the character\u2019s got older? [And] what does the 21st Century version of Spider look like?’\u201d the producer says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think the answers we\u2019ve come up with are surprising, shocking, interesting and I think will make the audience gasp slightly when we discover exactly what\u2019s going on with his life at present.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

We can\u2019t wait to learn exactly what\u2019s in Spider\u2019s web!<\/a>\u00a0Meanwhile, the producer adds that bringing him back just felt right for Toyah and for the soap.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a fabulous character with all this heritage behind him, and he just felt like exactly the right person to reintroduce to Toyah\u2019s life. Just at the point where she\u2019s hit rock bottom \u2013\u00a0or so she thinks \u2013\u00a0we bring in this incredibly warm, benign, nurturing blast from the past and just reset her to a happier time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGiving her that little interlude of optimism and happiness felt really important in the run up to the trial, just because there\u2019s a limit to how much self-<\/span>flagellation<\/span> you can enjoy as an audience. So it was just a brilliant little psychological boost for Toyah, and then of course, this being a soap, we whip the rug out from under her in fairly spectacular fashion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

6. Showdown week unveils new technology<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Mikey North and Millie Gibson are at the centre of the action as Gary and Kelly. (ITV)<\/span><\/figcaption> ITV<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

There\u2019s been a timebomb waiting to explode for quite a while thanks to Gary Windass (Mikey North), who killed Rick Neelan (Greg Wood) \u2013\u00a0the father of Kelly (Millie Gibson), who Gary is now a guardian for!<\/p>\n

And with Kelly set to leave soon (more to come on that below), the stage is set for a dramatic showdown. MacLeod reveals that Corrie has used exciting new methods to put these episodes together.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe centrepiece is a sequence that we\u2019ve shot using technology that\u2019s more commonly found in things like The Mandalorian, or they use a slightly larger version of this in the Avengers movies \u2013\u00a0it\u2019s called a volume wall which is relatively new to me,\u201d he explains.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEssentially, it\u2019s like a very new fan-dangled version of what they would have called a green screen or back projection. It means you can put your actors anywhere that you can imagine \u2013 you can essentially design a 3D world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He continues: \u201cWhat we\u2019ve done is create this incredible rooftop sequence with a twinkling Mancunian cityscape behind it, so that we can do things that you can never normally do in a location shoot. You can put real actors in what appears to be very real danger without using stunt performers, [and] you can have the camera behave in a way that it can\u2019t do in the real world unless it was being operated by an Avenger! The camera can swoop and fly and move around in ways that you can\u2019t do for real, and we\u2019ve created this incredibly cinematic sequence for the centrepiece of this week which I\u2019m incredibly excited about.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Summing up the week overall, MacLeod adds: \u201cIt\u2019s visually incredibly impressive and I don\u2019t think any continuing drama as far as I know has ever used this technology before, so I think we\u2019ll be the first to do it. It\u2019s funny, and it\u2019s got the party to end all parties in the middle of it. It\u2019s characterful, it\u2019s full of young love and it\u2019s just a great all round week of Coronation Street.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

7. Kelly makes her exit<\/b><\/h2>\n
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What fate awaits Kelly in Coronation Street? (ITV)<\/span><\/figcaption> ITV<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Yes, sadly we must bid farewell to Kelly as star Gibson has decided to leave Coronation Street<\/a>. This will lend a hand to exposing Gary as a killer, as MacLeod tells us.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gist of the week is, and it leaves me with a heavy heart to say it, but we all know Kelly\u2019s leaving the show. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo we thought well, actually, the fact that Millie [Gibson] is going and therefore Kelly is going allows us to go really big and do something incredibly high stakes, to maybe have some characters step on all these landmines that we\u2019ve buried for them over the years and have them all go off in one cataclysmic explosion. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019ve really thrown everything at this week to try and bring out all the big secrets, lies, reveals, schemes; it\u2019s literally got very high stakes jeopardy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This brings us neatly onto the premise for Gary\u2019s messy downfall\u2026<\/p>\n

8. Gary\u2019s murderous secret is revealed<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Gary should be looking more worried than this! (ITV)<\/span><\/figcaption> ITV<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

It\u2019s been over three years since Gary murdered Rick<\/a> in what was, to be fair, an act of self-defence. But Gary\u2019s actions since then have only added to his guilt, as he allowed Kelly\u2019s mother Laura (Kel Allen) to falsely confess to the crime before she passed away.<\/p>\n

Now, MacLeod confirms that the storyline is finally set to be wrapped up.<\/p>\n

\u201cGary has to retrace his steps back into the forest of doom where he once fought for his life with Kelly\u2019s dad, Rick. <\/span>It\u2019s really brilliant tying up on this story that began with that desperate act from Gary all those years ago.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt times, we\u2019ve toyed with blowing it all up and revealing the full secret to everybody and always just fall shy of that slightly, but finding ourselves in a position where we have to exit Kelly just means it\u2019s kind of now or never, so we\u2019ve gone for broke with it and done something I think really special, and certainly among one of the most impressive things that I\u2019ve worked on in my varied career in soaps.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

9. Introducing Dee Dee Bailey<\/b><\/h2>\n

MacLeod also offers an early teaser of Dee Dee \u2013\u00a0the much-mentioned, absent member of the Bailey family. The producer couldn\u2019t be more thrilled by the casting, and her arrival promises some fun amid the darker drama.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love this character,\u201d MacLeod says. \u201cI loved her long before she physically existed just by the way she was described in the Bailey family. Essentially, you can expect a certain amount of chaos, and she\u2019s got an incredibly big heart.<\/p>\n

He explains that there are two sides to Dee Dee in that she can be incredibly efficient one minute, then totally chaotic the next!<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s incredibly competent at her job, but you\u2019d never guess that to meet her. She works in law, and she\u2019s the sort of person that will<\/span>\u00a0take down to a team of hotshot lawyers to defend her clients, but will then turn to leave the courtroom and you realise that she\u2019s done the whole thing with her skirt tucked into her knickers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s abject chaos in every regard, apart from that incredibly sharp mind. The actor we\u2019ve cast, she\u2019s absolutely fantastic. She\u2019s just a complete sort <\/span>of shot in the arm; she\u2019s so full of energy and vibrance, and she\u2019s just great. <\/span>I\u2019m really really excited to see her crash land into that family, and there\u2019s loads of fun stuff to play with: her being the apple of her mum\u2019s eye but in sibling rivalry with the boys.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

MacLeod adds:\u00a0\u201cShe\u2019s also got a very comedic relationship with her niece Glory, because she doesn\u2019t really know what to do with kids and treats them a bit like they\u2019re one her clients!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He confirms that Dee Dee will be thrust into the community as part of another storyline, and points out that while many newcomers in soaps have a deep, dark secret, that won\u2019t be the case here!<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever you introduce a new character, it\u2019s kind of the default setting to go, \u2018And what is her dark secret that she\u2019s concealing?\u2019 when she arrives, and ordinarily that serves you very well. But actually with this character, she\u2019s so exuberant and just seems so bulletproof and impervious to the travails of modern life.,\u00a0<\/span>I sort of didn\u2019t want to discover that she\u2019s got some terrible burden.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cActually, it was really refreshing when we all came to that decision which was, \u2018Let\u2019s not do that.\u2019\u00a0<\/span>She could just be incredibly joyous and I think the world needs a bit of that at the moment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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