SPOILER ALERT – Coronation Street’s Leanne gives birth and it’s far from straightforward
Also this week: Jenny plays dirty, Bethany's secret is out and Maira gets a visit from Liam
Given that nothing ever goes to plan for Leanne, her labour was never going to be straightforward.
Sure enough, the drama begins when Toyah follows Leanne into the lifts at Victoria Court, and the pair get into a furious row, just as the lift gets stuck.
To make matters worse, the alarm doesn’t work, they’ve no phone reception and Toyah is missing her fertility clinic appointment – then, to top it all, Leanne’s waters break.
“All day, Leanne has been getting twinges and ignoring it,” reveals Jane Danson, who plays the panicked mum-to-be.
“When her waters break, she is terrified. She doesn’t make it to hospital and she doesn’t have any medical assistance, so it’s quite intense. Her birth is very, very different from others we have seen on Corrie.”
As her contractions worsen, Leanne turns to her sister for help.
“Toyah is a caring person and has always had that softer side to her,” explains Jane. “She is there to calm Leanne down.”
Luckily, Leanne has a healthy boy, but Nick’s joy is short-lived when she says his name won’t be on baby Oliver’s birth certificate.
“Leanne wants to start on the right foot and leave the father’s name blank,” Jane says.
“She isn’t thinking about [biological dad] Steve, but after a few days she realises Steve, Liz and Michelle are in her orbit and reality kicks in.”
Speaking of Steve, well… let’s just say Friday’s episodes are explosive and totally unmissable.
Bethany's secret is out
After losing her virginity to Nathan (no, we can’t believe she did the deed with him either), Bethany slips back home and makes out to her mum and Gary that she spent the night on Mel’s sofa after getting her phone stolen.
But while Sarah initially buys her daughter’s lies, she’s livid when Rana and Kate ask after her and reveal they saw her drunk and getting into a car with a bloke she claimed she knew.
Sarah wastes no time in confronting the teen, who admits she did go home with Nathan and that he is her boyfriend, but lies again when she’s asked if they’ve had sex.
Not happy about Bethany keeping secrets, or dating an older man, Sarah bans the schoolgirl from seeing the tanning-salon owner for good.
Will stong-minded Bethany heed her mum’s wishes, or is she already completely under Nathan’s spell? We’re guessing the latter…
Jenny plays dirty
Aidan isn’t a happy chappy when he returns to the cobbles to find Jenny with her feet firmly under the table at Underworld. So when she reveals that she is working on her new range of specialised bras and Richard Drake has already placed an order, he feels positively queasy.
But when the client backs out, furious Jenny resolves to make him change his mind, despite Johnny’s warning not to harm the factory’s relationship with Drake.
As she scours through the Weatherfield Gazette’s online photo archive, she stumbles upon a shot of Drake with his hand on his assistant’s bottom.
Realising this could well be the leverage she needs, Jenny forms a plan – will she resort to blackmail to get her order back on the table?
When Aidan catches sight of the incriminating photo on his screen and guesses Jenny’s plan, how will he and Johnny react?
Also this week...
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