Fans of Coronation Street are of course eagerly awaiting the show’s hour-long Christmas Day episode, when Leanne Barlow (Jane Danson) must once and for all choose who she really wants; her ex-husband Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne) or her other ex-husband, Nick Tilsley!

Nick (Ben Price) of course rearranged the wedding date after Leanne refused to fly to Vegas earlier this month to wed there because Peter and Carla (Alison King) arrived back in Weatherfield, and she didn’t want to leave it to chance that Peter wouldn’t try to take Simon again.

However, with Leanne’ sister Eva (Catherine Tyldesley) having vowed to sabotage Nick and Leanne’s big day, will her plan work or will Leanne greet the New Year as Mrs Tilsley? Read more & comment »

It’s been revealed today that when Katie Armstrong and Chesney Brown (Sam Aston) have their little boy Joseph christened, the event deteriorates into a brawl when Owen Armstrong decks Gary Windass!

Gary (Mikey North) is of course the partner of Owen’s daughter Izzy (Cherylee Houston) who has just found out she’s pregnant. However, as we saw in last night’s trip to the Street, she’s afraid to tell Gary the news because he’s said several times that he doesn’t want kids.

But nonetheless, in upcoming episodes, she will tell Gary, but it’s not yet known what his reaction is going to be. However, as the Sun reports that Owen (Ian Puleston Davies) is, as mentioned, going to punch Gary, we might assume he’s abandoned preggers Izzy, and Owen’s not pleased… Read more & comment »

Nick Tilsley and Leanne Barlow are about to rekindle their Corrie romance, which began back in 1997 when Leanne was Leanne Battersby and Nick was played by Adam Rickitt; Ben Price of course plays him now.

However, they divorced in 1999, and a heart broken Nick bogged off to Canada, only to return briefly in 2002 and 2004 before coming back to the cobbles permanently in 2010.

And it was in October 2010 that Leanne (Jane Danson) had an affair with Nick ahead of her marriage to Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne).

Peter of course later revealed – on his and Leanne’s wedding day – that he knew all about the affair, leaving the bride-to-be distraught as Peter told her it was over between them… Read more & comment »

Corrie gay couple Sean Tully (Antony Cotton) and Marcus Dent’s relationship has had its fair share of problems, and after they’d been dating for year from 2007 to 2008, they split up, but were reunited in April 2011.

Since then, they’ve seemed stronger than ever, with both sharing a close bond over, and with, Sean’s son Dylan, however, according to Charlie Condou who of course plays Marcus, there are troubles ahead for the couple.

While appearing on Lorraine Kelly’s breakfast show, Charlie – who used to share a flat with Take That star Robbie Williams – said of Sean and Marcus, “I think they love each other very much, they really do…

“But Sean’s not the most grown up man in the world. He gets very jealous and he’s quite a vulnerable character.

“I think that’s part of the attraction; Marcus loves looking after him. He’s one of life’s carers… Read more & comment »

Coronation Street’s café owner Roy Cropper has every right to look scared, because nutty as a fruitcake Mary Taylor has set her sights on wooing the married trainspotter, and once Mary sets her cap at someone, they’d better run, Forrest Gump styly…

Fans may recall that last time Mary – who’s played by the fabulous Patti Clare – had romantic designs on someone, it was Norris Cole (Malcolm Hebden) and in order to expedite the relationship, she effectively kidnapped him and held him hostage in a remote holiday cottage.

In a storyline that was later mirrored in real life – click here to read what that’s all about – Mary came over all Misery as she stopped Norris from leaving the cottage and scuppered all his attempts to communicate with the outside world.

Click ‘Read more’ for a reminder of those hilarious scenes… Read more & comment »

In next week’s visits to Coronation Street, it’s all change in terms of Karl Munro and Sunita Alahan’s affair as she goes back to husband Dev, and Karl’s girlfriend Stella tells him it’s over between them and throws him out of the pub!

And it certainly is a quantum shift, given that in the last visit to the Street, we saw Sunita telling a broken Dev (Jimmi Harkishin) that his pleas to her to come back to him were pointless, while also telling Karl (John Michie) that she wanted him to tell Stella about their affair so that they could become a “proper couple.”

But of course, Karl disabused her of that idea, telling her that he had no intention of telling Stella (Michelle Collins) and even less of becoming Sunita’s partner.

However, in an upcoming episode, Eva, who is of course Stella’s daughter, is going to overhear Karl and Sunita (Shobna Gulati) having heated words in the back room of the Rovers, and when she storms in, demanding to know what’s going on, she sees Karl with the wad of money that he’d given to Sunita for safekeeping… Read more & comment »

As viewers of Corrie will know, Sunita Alahan and her lover Karl Munro have been sailing close to the wind as they conduct their affair, and have been very close to being caught on numerous occasions…

However, for the formerly staid and conservative Sunita (Shobna Gulati) that aspect is part of what makes it all so exciting, but trepidatious Karl (John Michie) is less hooked on the whole catch-us-if-you-can game.

And of course, now that Sunita has left Dev (Jimmi Harkishin) and is currently staying at the Rovers – which is really rubbing it in, given it’s her host and boss Stella’s bloke she’s bonking – she’s on Karl like a rash and she tells him she wants them to be a proper couple…

However, Karl is primarily affected by the head that doesn’t sit on his shoulders, but when Stella’s (Michelle Collins) daughter Eva very nearly catches him and Sunita out, he decides he needs to call time on the pub based exploits. Read more & comment »

As fans of Coronation Street will know, recovering alcoholic Peter Barlow has been fighting a legal battle with his estranged wife Leanne (Jane Danson) over custody of his son Simon (Alex Bain).

And with no resolution in sight to the proceedings, it’s all getting a bit messy and nasty, with both Leanne and Peter threatening to expose each other’s dubious pasts, which for Leanne is mainly that she used to be a prostitute, and for Peter, it’s all about his boozing.

However, the whole thing is about to reach a terrifying climax when a distressed Simon finds a bottle of wine that Peter’s girlfriend Carla Connor (Alison King) has hidden in a cupboard at the flat she shares with Peter and Simon… Read more & comment »

There’s to be the pitter patter of yet more tiny feet in the Armstrong family in forthcoming episodes of Coronation Street when Izzy Armstrong discovers she’s pregnant with Gary Windass’ baby!

Izzy is of course played by Cherylee Houston, who made history by becoming the soap’s first full-time disabled actress.

Cherylee suffers from a rare tissue disorder called Ehlers Danlos Type III hypermobility type, which has seen her confined to a wheelchair since she was 23 years old.

When she landed the role of Izzy in 2010, Cherylee said, “Attitudes are only just changing and TV is one of the last domains.

“There are nearly 10% of us in society, but hardly any of us on TV. I’m really proud to be joining Coronation Street and really excited too.

“But for me, more than anything, it is about being good at my job.”

Returning to the baby plotline, it begins when, having been looking after Gary’s foster sister Faye, he and Izzy discuss the idea of having a family of their own one day, but fate steps in and just days later, Izzy discovers she’s expecting… Read more & comment »

Coronation Street star Kym Marsh has revealed that her character Michelle Connor will once again turn to her ex, Steve McDonald, when she learns that her son Ryan is pedaling drugs.

Kym made the revelation when asked if Michelle was going to find love with newbie Rob Donovan (Marc Baylis) who is of course Carla Connor’s (Alison King) ex-jailbird brother.

She replied, “New man? It’s actually more of an old man. Could she be getting closer to a certain Mr McDonald again? Maybe!”

Speaking to All About Soap magazine, Kym added, “I think the viewers are expecting Michelle to get it on with Rob because he’s the new guy.

“The last person they’re expecting her to pair up with is Steve…” Read more & comment »

The People report today that Corrie baddie-turned-goodie Lewis Archer is set to die in a road crash later this year, which is both a #opants moment and a #sigh snippet of news.

As fans of the show will know, we first met Lewis – who’s played by Nigel Havers – when he was working as a male escort, and having won the heart of hairdresser Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls) he abandoned her after ripping off a number of the Street’s residents.

However, he returned to the cobbles earlier this year, determined to prove that he’d turned over a new leaf and was no longer a dastardly cad.

Of course, nobody believed him at first, but as time’s gone on, his true feelings for Audrey have become apparent, and even her family have finally accepted that Lewis really does love her and isn’t just looking to rip her off… Read more & comment »

As fans of Coronation Street will know, Sunita Alahan is having an affair with taxi driver Karl Munro (John Michie) and while speaking to Soaplife about what advice he’d give his character Dev, Jimmi Harkishin has revealed that he’d tell him to throw her out.

Dev is of course Sunita’s (Shobna Gulati) shopkeeper husband, however, having fallen in love with Karl, Dev won’t need to throw Sunita out as she’s going of her own accord!

Speaking to Soaplife about what happens when Sunita decides to leave Dev, Jimmi explained that the drama takes place against the backdrop of the Street’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

He said, “Dev is dressed as Adam Ant [for a street party], Karl is Tom Jones and Sunita is Beyonce, so it is quite comical.

“Karl dives behind the counter. It’s a heightened Corrie reality and funny because he doesn’t catch them at it.

“It’s much more serious when he finally confronts her about whether there is someone else…” Read more & comment »

In tonight’s episodes of Coronation Street, there’s no let up in the unrelenting misery for poor old Eileen Grimshaw (Sue Cleaver) when her former boyfriend Paul Kershaw (Tony Hirst) pleads with her to attend his wife Lesley’s funeral with him.

As fans of the show will know, after Paul accused Eileen of being responsible for Lesley’s death by leaving her in the house alone, she threw him out, and the pair haven’t spoken since.

However, when they do reunite for the emotional service, Lesley’s sister Yvonne (Dorothy Atkinson) is not happy to see Eileen there, given she knows all about the rather odd ménage a trois that was Lesley’s life shortly before she died.

During his eulogy to Lesley (Judy Holt) Paul tells the mourners, “I was living with a complete stranger by the end…”

To which Yvonne whispers to Eileen, “Funny, I thought he was living with you by then.” Read more & comment »

Despite being 78, and having been a regular cast member on Coronation Street for four decades, Barbara Knox, who plays Rita Sullivan – soon to be Rita Tanner – has no plans to retire.

In a rare interview with the Daily Mirror, Barbara said, “Retire? What a filthy word! I haven’t thought of retiring.

“I keep saying to everybody I know – don’t retire, just keep working. It’s so good for you – it certainly is for me.

“I know it’s hard and you’re tired and you don’t want to go in, but your brain is in action.

“And I do think the sheer discipline of work helps to keep you younger. So apart from loving the job, that is at the back of my mind.

“I’ve done it all my life and I enjoy it and I genuinely find it stimulating.”

Barbara, who’s also starred in A Family At War, Goodbye Mr Chips and Emergency Ward 10, went on to say that when she was written out of Corrie for 11 weeks, she realized then that she couldn’t possibly leave work permanently… Read more & comment »

As fans of Corrie will know, evil loan shark Rick Whelan (Greg Wood) has passed on Terry Duckworth’s debt to his son Tommy, who’s being forced to secrete drugs on cars he’s working on to pay off what Terry owes…

And while speaking to Soaplife about how her character Tina McIntyre will feel when she finds out what Tommy (Chris Fountain) has been doing, Michelle Keegan also revealed that she’s not sure if Tina and Tommy can make it through the crisis and stay together.

She began by saying, “She feels totally betrayed he didn’t tell her about Rick. She thought they had a good relationship.

“Not only that, but they’re best friends who are meant to talk to each other about everything.”

When asked how Tina finds out about Tommy’s dodgy dealings with Rick, Michelle explained, “Tyrone borrows one of Rick’s cars and Tommy has a real go at him when he brings it back… Read more & comment »