Coronation Street airs new storyline for troubled Daniel Osbourne in early ITVX release
Warning: Contains spoilers for Friday's episode of Coronation Street, which airs at 8.30pm on ITV1 or can be streamed now on ITVX.
The weight of Daniel Osbourne's (Rob Mallard) troubling few months have begun to take their toll in Coronation Street.
The turmoil began when Sam Blakeman (Jude Riordan) addressed his concerns about Daniel's girlfriend Megan Walsh's (Beth Nixon) relationship with teenage Will Driscoll (Lucas Hodgson-Wale). Police swarmed on Weatherfield High, and she was promptly arrested.
Daniel was in complete disbelief and was convinced by Megan's insistence that there was no foul play. She told him that she'd knocked back Will's advances, and that he'd become jealous.
Amid his investigation, Kit Green (Jacob Roberts) interviewed Daniel at the station, hoping that he would be able to shed some light and or whether he had suspicions of his own. Thoroughly convinced that she was being truthful, he told the detective that he believed his girlfriend had only ever been professional around her students.
At this point, Megan was pregnant. She hoped that police would believe Daniel was the father, and that she'd decided to keep it from him for fears that he wasn't ready to become a parent again. Kit said that the only real way to prove her innocence would be to do a DNA test, though lawyer Adam Barlow (Sam Robertson) reminded him that she couldn't be forced to undertake the assessment.
Megan stayed firm, and said that she wouldn't do it as she had nothing to hide.
Meanwhile, the floor fell from beneath Daniel's feet as Eva Price (Catherine Tyldesley) revealed the pregnancy news. He charged over to the Chariot Square Hotel, and was in disbelief when she refused to follow his wishes and complete the DNA test.
He spelled out that – until she did – their relationship was over. Daniel was also angry that his uncle Adam was acting in Megan's defence, and saw her unwillingness as evident guilt.
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Now that news has spread about Megan's relationship with Will, Daniel has become aware that other students know about his involvement with her. Hope Dobbs (Isabella Flanagan) made a barbed comment towards him at school earlier this week, after he accused her of using AI to complete her homework.
When she refused to spend her break time completing it properly, she stood in the corridor and, using her friend's back to lean on, wrote a poem about Daniel being in a relationship with a paedophile. He was furious, and grabbed the pen and paper from her hands.
Hope accused Daniel of assaulting her, and in today's episode, he discovered that headteacher Mrs Crawshaw (Carla Mendonça) had implemented disciplinary action and therefore he had to take some time off work.
Ken Barlow (William Roache) offered to care for young Bertie (Henry Duggan, in his debut performance) for the day, though when he returned him to the builder's yard flat, found Daniel in a state of distress. He shouted aggressively towards Adam, saying that the floor was falling from beneath his feet and he had no idea how to sort it.
Later that day, Daniel dropped Bertie off at No. 1 and asked Ken to look after him. He'd booked himself into a B&B in the Lake District for some alone time and reflection, and would return once he was in a better headspace.
However, it soon became clear that this wasn't the case. Back at his flat, Daniel closed all of the curtains and began to down a bottle of whisky.
Will anyone realise just how much he's struggling?
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Coronation Street airs weeknights at 8:30pm on ITV1 or can be streamed from 7am on ITVX.
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Authors
Michael Adams is the Soaps Editor at Radio Times, covering all of the hot gossip and spoilers from Weatherfield to Walford, Emmerdale to Hollyoaks and everywhere in-between. He joined the team from Metro, where he spent two years as a Soaps Reporter and previously worked on the sets of both Coronation Street and Emmerdale.
