Coronation Street airs surprise Summer Spellman scenes as she vows to protect Todd Grimshaw 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.
Summer Spellman (Harriet Bibby) has responded to Carl Webster's (Jonathan Howard) extreme offer concerning her father Billy's death in Coronation Street.
Daniel Brocklebank's 11-year stint as the vicar came to an end during an epic crossover episode with Emmerdale in January. Billy was driving a minibus home from Debbie Webster's (Sue Devaney) wedding, which was involved in a multi-vehicle pile-up.
He was trapped in the driving seat, but just as he began to make an escape, Theo Silverton (James Cartwright) clipped his seatbelt back into the buckle and ensued he couldn't climb out. Billy was the only person who knew of Theo's abuse of husband Todd Grimshaw (Gareth Pierce), and he couldn't risk this information being outed.
In the aftermath, Theo spoke openly of his guilt over Billy's coffin - unaware that Carl was listening in from the next room.
The two had a war of words, and Theo warned Carl that if he was to spill, he would ensure he ended up in a coffin just like Billy. It wasn't until recently that Carl realised he could get some financial gain out of Billy's loved ones by revealing what he knows.
He cornered grieving Summer and urged her to "look closer to home" when finding someone to blame for her dad's death, and earlier this week offered to bring down Theo in exchange for £10,000.
His mum Debbie (Sue Devaney) was mortified by his manipulation and threw him out of the house, unaware that Summer was already considering the deal.
In today's episode, George Shuttleworth (Tony Maudsley) accompanied Todd to the corner shop flat to pick up his belongings. Within seconds of walking in the door, a parcel delivery arrived and the sound of the doorbell buzzer sent shockwaves through Todd.
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He was fearful that Theo had returned, and rushed out in tears.
George, Christina Boyd (Amy Robbins) and Mary Taylor (Patti Clare) gathered around him, and when Summer pulled him in for a hug, she was shocked to see how fragile and pained he was.
Knowing that she had to do something, she met up with Carl in the ginnel and told him that she was prepared to handover the money if he managed to get Theo behind bars.
Will he succeed in bringing down Theo?
Throughout the storyline the Coronation Street research team have worked alongside LGBT anti-abuse charity Galop.
You can contact Galop’s National LGBT+ Abuse and Violence Helpline by calling 0800 999 5428, emailing help@galop.org.uk, or starting a webchat on www.galop.org.uk.
Coronation Street airs weeknights at 8:30pm and 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.
