In forthcoming Coronation Street episodes, Allison King’s character Carla Connor returns from her recent vacation to Spain, and a lot has changed.
A few weeks back, Carla departed the cobbles for an international business conference. Since Stephen (Todd Boyce) passed away, Carla has been occupied with attempting to save Underworld. She thought that being there at the meeting would help the factory retain the deal, but it would also mean having to say goodbye to Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne), who was having financial difficulties.
Peter warned Carla before she left that there was a good chance he would be behind bars when she returned. Since then, there has been sufficient evidence to show that Peter drove his vehicle into the bad businessman to protect Jenny (Sally Ann Matthews) and others, leading DS Swain (Vicky Myers) to dismiss the case and affirm Peter wouldn’t go to jail for Stephen’s death.
Although the development comforted Peter, it has put him in a precarious situation. Carla is concerned about Peter’s fear of relapsing and resorting to alcohol in this new video, as Peter battles his inner demons.
Carla tries to tell Peter about her and Ken’s (William Roache) concerns about him drinking at the apartment.
After returning with a coffee in hand, Peter informs his partner he’s attended another AA meeting because he feels upset by the charge.
Carla is then informed by the taxi driver that he has attended to many more meetings than she realizes.
Although Carla is a little happy, she wonders Peter where the missing bottle of alcohol from the apartment has disappeared.
However, if Peter isn’t drinking, then who took the alcohol?
According to Corrie CEO Iain MacLeod, “there are a few explosive Peter Barlow-style outbursts that start to draw to Carla’s notice that he’s really not right.” MacLeod was speaking about the scenes that would culminate in Peter’s resignation from the show.
They come to a significant crossroads in their relationship when they still love each other but may no longer be dependent on one another for happiness. In other words, they may begin to question whether they would be happy in a different circumstance somewhere else.
After building to this really unexpected Christmas episode, there’s a big two-hander between the two of them, who are essentially the only two cast members in the show.
For those of you who have been big fans of Peter and Carla from the beginning, this is a greatest hits compilation that covers every single detail of who they are, what they’ve been like as a couple, what they want for the future, and what happiness looks like for them. It’s also building towards Peter’s exit, which is incredibly creative and bittersweet and feels like Corrie at its best.