There’s another murder on the horizon in Coronation Street and fans already think they know which major character is set to meet their maker.
Next week, the ITV soap will flash forward to April, where Betsy Swain (Sydney Martin) is questioned by police after finding a body.
By the end of the episode, the list of potential victims will have been narrowed down to five – but Metro readers are already guessing whose time on the cobbles is running out.
The two front-runners at the moment seem to be villains Carl Webster (Jonathan Howard) and Theo Silverton (James Cartwright), with fans sure that both are involved.
There has been a lot of speculation that one of them will be the victim and the other the killer, and given that they’ve both already threatened each other, the theory does carry some weight.
Carl is the only person who knows about Theo’s involvement in Billy Mayhew’s death, and the killer has already warned that Carl will be next if he doesn’t keep his mouth shut.
Equally, Theo witnessed one of Carl’s many crimes first-hand and has photographic evidence of his clandestine meeting with the lads he paid to steal from the Chariot Square. Could Carl be set to kill him and delete the photos?
‘I reckon Theo kills Carl …. orrrrrr Carl kills Theo ohhhhh I wonder,’ Metro reader Karen theorised, while Janice added: ‘Hope Theo kills Carl then gets caught & jailed. Bye bye to both.’
‘It’s Carl and Theo did it,’ Jayne predicted, while Lee wrote: ‘I sense a whodunnit with Carl.’
Others are speculating that Theo will die, but it won’t be at Carl’s hands.
‘I am worried that Todd is going to fight back and kill Theo in the process. Not because I don’t want Theo to go, but because of the repercussions on Todd,’ Helen fretted.
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Viewers will know that Theo has been abusing Todd emotionally and physically, and the last time he tried to defend himself, it ended with Theo in hospital and Todd facing criminal charges. Could history be set to repeat itself, but with more dire consequences?
Surprisingly, the other name being floated around among Metro readers is Cassie Plummer (Claire Sweeney), thanks to the recent announcement that she is set to leave the cobbles behind.
‘Could be cassie? She’s supposed to be going out of it ain’t she?’ Jack queried, while Charley added: ‘Could be Cassie as Claire Sweeney is off on tour. She’s in Annie in the theatre from May this year.’
‘Only person definitely leaving this year is Cassie,’ Natalie pointed out, while Kim theorised: ‘Could be Cassie, has Tracy [Barlow (Kate Ford)] struck again? She’s done time for murder and she hates Cassie.’
With Cassie set to still be on our screens until the summer, it would appear that this rules her out for the April murder, unless her ghost hangs around for a while.
However, that doesn’t mean she’s not involved.
‘Maybe Cassie kills Carl after finding out he definitely was the one who ploughed Tyrone [Dobbs (Alan Halsall)] down. She’s leaving and has a nothing to lose attitude when it comes to her family,’ Kirsty speculated.
It’s certainly a sensible theory, and it would make sense if she confessed and went to prison or took her chances on the run in the summer.
We won’t know for sure who the murder victim is until April, so we’re going to be gathering clues and coming up with theories for a while yet!
This article was originally published on February 10.