As Coronation Street celebrates Christmas this week, Ed’s forced to admit his shameful secret, Evelyn is touched by Roy’s gift, and the Rovers is saved!
It’s set to be a miserable Christmas for the Bailey household, as Ed (Trevor Michael Georges) is finally forced to admit his gambling habit to his devastated family.
After frittering all his money away on horses, Ed was dealt a blow (quite literally) last week when friend Tony (Sean Cernow) ran out of patience for the money owed to him, and forced Ed to load his family’s Christmas presents into his van to be pawned.
When his family returned to find an empty space under the Christmas tree, Ed covered his tracks by saying there’d been a break-in.
As Christmas Day dawns, the family do their best to celebrate with the few presents they’ve managed to salvage, as a guilty Ed looks at the thoughtful gift son Michael (Ryan Russell) bought him—a watch with ‘World’s Best Dad – Our Hero!’ engraved on it.
Later in the week, Craig informs the family that there’s been no joy in tracking down the (non-existent) burglars, but there’s an unexpected development when Michael heads into work. Having heard about what happened, Sean (Antony Cotton) and Izzy (Cherylee Houston) present Michael with a Wendy House to give to his two-year-old daughter Glory, to replace the one that was stolen.
Michael is stunned when he realises that it’s actually the exact same one, with the customisations they’d added, and Sean and Izzy inform him that they’d clubbed together and bought it from a pawn shop. Michael passes this information onto Craig who promises to look into it, but when he later asks Michael and Dee-Dee (Channique Sterling-Brown) to the station, they’re shocked by what he’s uncovered.
With the truth out, Ed has no option but to admit the extent of his shameful secret to Michael and Dee-Dee, brother Ronnie (Vinta Morgan) and dad Sarge (Ram John Holder). Michael wants his dad out of the house, whilst Dee-Dee is furious to find out that both Ronnie and her boyfriend Joel (Calum Lill) had previously uncovered Ed’s gambling, and were told that it was now under control.
The next day, Todd (Gareth Pierce) finds Ed slumped in the precinct ginnel a broken man, and after telling him what he’s done, he admits that his family don’t yet know the worst of it…
As he returns home to come clean, will this further secret tear the family apart?
Elsewhere on the cobbles, Billy (Daniel Brocklebank) and Paul (Peter Ash) are trying to put the fact that it’s Paul’s last Christmas out of their minds, and are looking forward to a peaceful day with a film and a bottle of bubbly. But when Gemma (Dolly-Rose Campbell) can’t get hold of her brother she worries that he may have had another fall, and so sends Chesney (Sam Aston) round to check on him.
As Chesney and Todd let themselves into the flat, they’re horrified by what they find…
Later in the week, Paul anticipates the arrival of Jim as his PA, who had previously looked after late friend Shelly. But Paul is disappointed when Moses (Michael Fatogun) turns up instead, who explains that he’s standing in for Jim. Paul has been struggling with back pain, and his wariness about a stranger coming into his life is soon put to rest when Moses manages to massage the pain away.
Moses later takes Paul out for a shopping trip, and on their return Moses catches the eye of a passing Todd. Seeing they’re struggling to get into the door with all their bags, a smitten Todd is quick to head over and offer his assistance…
Over at Roy’s Rolls on Christmas Day, Mary (Patti Clare), Freddie and a rather tipsy Evelyn (Maureen Lipman) help Roy prepare their festive feast.
When they later exchange gifts, Evelyn is genuinely touched when she sees that Roy has bought her a vintage, limited edition copy of her favourite book—South Riding by Winifred Holtby.
The suggestion had come from Evelyn’s daughter Cassie (Claire Sweeney), who helped Roy out when his car broke down by driving him to Edale in a ‘borrowed’ car in order to collect the book.
Little did Roy realise that the Porsche SUV Cassie was driving actually belonged to a customer at the garage, and when he later sees the car parked up in the workshop, he’s horrified to realise that he was travelling in a stolen car!
Roy is the least of Cassie’s concerns though. After returning the car, Cassie realised that she had managed to scratch it, and quickly tried to cover her tracks by placing Abby’s (Sally Carman-Duttine) tool cart next to it.
When the garage reopens, Kevin (Michael Le Vell) and Abby are dismayed to spot the damage, and in a particularly devious move, Cassie quietly suggests to Kevin that maybe Abby has started drinking again and scratched the car whilst drunk!
Over at No.6, little Eliza (Savanna Kunyo) is feeling miserable after dad Dom (Darren Morfitt) failed to turn up for Christmas as promised.
Unknown to both Eliza and Yasmeen (Shelley King), Stu (Bill Fellows) had paid Dom £10,000 to leave Eliza and go and reconnect with his other family in Germany. Eliza was confused when Dom dropped her off at her granddad’s place with a mountain of stuff for only a week, but he promised he’d be back soon.
Following his no-show, Eliza is refusing to engage as she sits on her own with her earpods in, leading Stu and Yasmeen to worry about her.
Stu eventually leaves a message for Dom admitting that he may have made a mistake in asking him to leave Eliza alone, commenting that Eliza is very upset.
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Feeling guiltier by the minute, Stu finally comes clean to a horrified Yasmeen about what he did, and his concerns that Dom is seemingly content with not returning.
As Yasmeen later confides in Roy about her history of choosing men that she can’t trust, has Stu managed to ruin his own relationship as well as Eliza’s connection with her dad?
And in exciting news, Jenny (Sally Ann Matthews) and Daisy (Charlotte Jordan) are thrilled when they learn their sealed bid has been accepted, and they are now officially the new owners of the Rovers Return! The new partners are soon discussing the reopening, and after Daisy makes a call to Waterfords, she reveals that she’s been able to wangle it so that they can have the pub back open by New Year’s Eve!
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The Rovers is going to provide a suitable distraction for Daisy, after her recent split with Daniel (Rob Mallard).
“There’s things that Jenny and Daisy have done to buy the Rovers that they are not proud of,” Charlotte tells us. “While that was super fun to play out, I don’t imagine it’s going to last very long! But in the meantime, Daisy is loving it.”
“She’s throwing all her energy onto the Rovers as it’s all she’s got left,” Charlotte continues. “She’s lost her love, her hero, her little family and in turn, her future. So the Rovers failing is not an option. She’s very ready to have something she’s proud of and something she can call her own.”
It’s an emotional Boxing Day on Coronation Street, as Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne) packs his bags and farewells Weatherfield.
