Carla Connor branded paranoid as she makes a big discovery in Coronation Street

WEATHERFIELD businesswoman Carla Connor stepped back from her leading role at the Underworld factory.

But when she finally puts two and two together, the Coronation Street favourite faces a strong opposition.

Carla has been a big part of the knicker factory's success since her first arrival in the ITV cobbles in December, 2006.

However, when she seemingly suffered a relapse into her psychosis, the entrepreneur played by Alison King deemed it necessary for her mental health to take a breather, allowing Stephen Reid to take charge.

During her supposed relapse, Carla suffered from troubling and inexplicable symptoms she confessed she didn't fully recognise as part of another psychotic episode.

Nonetheless, she agreed to get help and slowly recovered before deciding to sell her share of the Underworld business.

Coming up, Angelique breaks the news that she won’t be renewing the Nippersnapper contract but Stephen (Todd Boyce) tells Carla, his niece Sarah Platt (Tina O'Brien) and Michael Bailey (Ryan Russell) a completely different story.

While the outcome of Stephen's strategy remains to be seen, Carla slowly comes to the realisation her mental health was never the problem during a conversation with Rufus Donahue's widow, Lou (Eleanor Howell).

Carla is initially shocked to hear about Rufus' dabbling with LSD but things begin to click as Lou describes the symptoms he would suffer from.

These resonate with Carla and she soon tells Roy Cropper (David Neilson) her symptoms were identical as she suspects someone might have drugged her.

Not convinced and believing she is suffering from paranoia again, Roy tells her husband Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne) about his concerns.

Little does he know that Carla is actually right.

Indeed, viewers of the Manchester-based drama will remember that Stephen Reid has bent over backwards to push Carla away from her own business as he tried to make big money in Weatherfield.

Mistaking her assertive nature for an abrasive disposition, Stephen grew tired of getting his ego bruised which convinced him even further to take action against her.

Stephen began to spike Carla with Rufus' LSD after finding it in his hotel bedroom and, eventually, the businesswoman was unable to function properly, suffering from hallucinations.

Rufus was well aware of what Stephen was doing to Carla and even blackmailed him for a whopping amount of cash.

This ultimately led to his death as Stephen claimed his third victim in the cobbles, becoming a full-blown serial killer.

Stephen's downfall begins next week as his many lies unravel and Tim Metcalfe (Joe Duttine) makes sure everybody knows he can't be trusted.

But will Carla realise he was the one who drugged her?

Coronation Street airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8pm on ITV.