Coronation Street spoilers follow.
Have you noticed lots of Coronation Street news this week, by any chance? It's no coincidence – show boss Iain MacLeod spoke out about future storylines in an exciting virtual press conference this week, with Digital Spy among the lucky attendees.
If you're struggling to keep track of all the gossip, don't worry as we're rounding up all of the biggest news and revelations right here, all in one place.
1. Geoff's comeuppance is still months away
The big question on everyone's lips right now is when Geoff will have to face the music for his vile abuse of Yasmeen. However, with a few chapters of the storyline still to go, it turns out that we won't be seeing his comeuppance until the end of the year.
"The timelines have obviously been shunted around slightly due to the lockdown, but I think it's fair to imagine that it will certainly be this year," MacLeod told us.
"What form that comeuppance takes is still in discussion. We wanted a redemptive ending ultimately for Yasmeen. She's in the thick of it at the moment and the toughest it's going to get for her is around now.
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"The ending is towards the end of the year but the key thing is to impart the right message at the end of this story."
2. Geoff's past will be explored
Ahead of Geoff's downfall, the show will be delving deeper into his past. Viewers have already seen hints that Geoff has a history of abusing his partners, but the plan is to now unravel this backstory in more detail, with part of the story focusing on Geoff's relationship with Tim's mother.
"It felt right that we would look at Geoff's past relationships in some detail and discover that he's done this before, as that tends to be the case in real life," MacLeod said.
"There'll be a lot of interesting exploration into Geoff's backstory, which will obviously lead to a lot of interesting exploration of Tim's backstory too.
"Tim is very well-loved by the audience, so it's a good opportunity for us to find out more about him and why he's become the man that he is. We'll discover a bit more about his family background.
"There's a lot of family saga stuff to come, as a result of the things that Alya, the police and everybody else starts to discover about Geoff's past."
MacLeod also revealed that another aspect of the storyline will see Geoff himself start to struggle, frustrated that Yasmeen is out of his grasp when she's facing jail. Despite this brief focus on what makes Geoff tick, there are – understandably – no plans to rehabilitate the evil character.
3. Yasmeen has a long journey over Geoff
Speaking specifically about Yasmeen's perspective, MacLeod pointed out that it'll take a while for her to realise that Geoff was abusing her. In the coming days and weeks, Yasmeen's loved ones will rally around and try to make her see that Geoff's behaviour was the problem, not hers.
MacLeod explained: "Even if you finally have snapped, it doesn't mean that you don't still have this insidious, controlling character under your skin. It's not that Yasmeen suddenly wakes up the next day and realises that he has been abusing her.
"It's a slow road for her to accept what she's been through and see it was abuse. We'll see a lot of her wrestling with what she has done, and her friends and family try to lead her out of the darkness and into the light.
"They try to convince her that she's actually the person who has been wronged in all of this – that Geoff is not the victim, he is the perpetrator. It's a really interesting psychological story. It sucks in loads of characters - Alya and Sally are very pivotal."
4. Tim and Sally have big tensions ahead
Popular couple Tim and Sally will be particularly affected by the Geoff and Yasmeen dramas still to come. While Tim decides that his dad needs his support, Sally decides that she's backing Yasmeen.
"Sally has never been Geoff's biggest fan and she was among the first to have seen what was going on behind closed doors next door," MacLeod revealed.
"This provides huge material for her and Tim. Obviously Tim, in his own way, has been brainwashed and gaslighted by Geoff since birth, more or less. So he's very much Team Geoff, while Sally very quickly becomes Team Yasmeen.
"There's a lot of story in the coming weeks coming out of the tensions that creates in that relationship – and the difficulties that poses for them as a married couple, with polar opposite views over what was going on next door."
5. COVID-19 will feature in the storylines
After weeks of debate over whether soaps should address COVID-19 or ignore it altogether, Corrie has confirmed plans to incorporate it into storylines once the cast and crew are able to film new episodes.
The real-world situation won't dominate the show's plots, but we'll see mentions of it on screen and changes in how some familiar business on the cobbles operate.
Explaining Corrie's planned approach, MacLeod insisted: "People wouldn't want to tune into Coronation Street and see people talking about coronavirus in every scene. It will be there, you'll be able to see evidence of it in the way that people behave.
"We will see it reflected in how businesses are run, they'll be tweaked to do more takeaways and the like, as food outlets are doing in the real world.
"But we'll still continue telling the same brilliant, dramatic stories and include the healthy dollop of comedy that we always do, as we don't want to turn the show into something that the viewers don't recognise.
"It will be there, handled with a light touch. Other than that, our storytelling will be business as usual."
6. A ghost from Carla's past is still to arrive
At the start of this year, MacLeod revealed that a ghost from Carla's past would arrive on the cobbles and, in the process, reveal a secret about the time that she disappeared amid her mental health crisis last year.
Some fans had wondered whether Ray Crosby or Scott Emberton could be the character in question, but MacLeod has now ruled out these two intriguing viewer theories.
"I can tell you for sure that it's not Ray or Scott – it's somebody we have yet to meet," MacLeod confirmed.
"It felt like an interesting opportunity to delve into Carla's recent story and generate something in the present, which will also reveal something we hadn't known previously about somebody else in the show.
"We meet two people we've not seen before, who emerge from Carla's mental health story. In the present, somebody that's currently in the show elsewhere reveals their true colours. That's a bit cryptic, but I don't want to give too much away."
7. Carla and Peter have a strong future
While the upcoming storyline will test Carla and Peter's relationship, there are no plans to split the couple up. The long-term plan is for them to emerge from their next crisis stronger than ever.
"Certainly this will be a tricky time for Peter and Carla," MacLeod teased, confirming that the scenes in question will air in June.
"What he discovers about her lost weekend will be a hard thing for him to swallow, but ultimately he will come to love her all the more for it and be all the more proud of her for overcoming it."
8. David will try to win back Shona
While David is currently on a self-destructive path – heading out on the street and looking for trouble with gangs – the longer-term plan is for him to focus on winning back his estranged wife Shona.
When Shona returns to the show later this month, she still has no memory of her relationship with David. The big question afterwards is whether they can ever get their relationship back to what it was. Spoiler alert: it's looking good.
"What Shona finds when she first comes back is that it's not love at first sight," MacLeod joked. "She has to essentially fall back in love with David. For David's part, that's the challenge – he has to make Shona fall back in love with him.
"As the story unfolds, David discovers that he actually needs to fall back in love with her, because she's a slightly different proposition now. It's a really interesting, complicated and emotional story.
"It has the Platts' usual fun and games and it's a long-runner for us, but ultimately it will have a happy ending. Nobody's got any desire long-term to split up David and Shona. They're quite cheese and crackers – one is nothing without the other."
9. David and Shona could tie the knot again
Looking even further ahead, the Corrie writers are discussing the possibility of another wedding for David and Shona, since Shona currently can't remember the first one.
MacLeod said: "It's certainly been discussed. That's the most poignant thing about it – when David was showing Shona pictures of their wedding and to her it was just two strangers dancing in the Bistro. So a wedding is very, very possible.
"What we want to do is make sure this feels like a love story ultimately, so it needs a happy ending. Whether it be a wedding or something else, we want the audience to have that confetti moment where they punch the air with joy."
10. Gary is sticking around
Although Corrie has been teasing the possibility of Gary's dark secrets being exposed, there are no plans to lose actor Mikey North from the show in the immediate future.
Future episodes will see Adam start to grow suspicious over what Gary could be hiding, particularly when he keeps inexplicably helping out Rick's daughter Kelly.
However, MacLeod promised: "I don't want to give too much away, but the end is not nigh for Gary. I think Mikey's fabulous and [I've enjoyed] Gary's complicated, messed-up evolution from back in the day when he was a scally and a thug.
"When Gary lost Sarah, he turned back to the dark side that he'd emerged from when he was a teenager. Gary going back to his scally, criminal roots has been really interesting. So I'm in no hurry to press the ejector seat on that story, I think it's really fascinating and interesting."
11. Wedding drama for Maria and Gary
The next dramas in Gary's storyline will form part of the build-up to his wedding day. The schemer is preparing to tie the knot with Maria, but with storm clouds gathering, a "happily ever after" seems optimistic.
MacLeod said: "[Gary's] selfless gene kicks in again and he tries to help Kelly out in any way he can, but unfortunately that arouses a certain degree of suspicion in some of his rivals on the street, who start to think: 'What on earth has he got to do with this kid?'
"When they find out that Kelly is Rick's kid, suspicions start to go into overdrive in a way that precipitates a massive explosion in Sarah, Adam and Gary's lives – in the run-up to Gary and Maria's wedding. That will be going out sometime later in the summer."
12. Callum's death will be revisited
Gary's tensions with Adam will also lead to a long-forgotten story being brought back to the forefront – Callum Logan's death.
Callum was killed by Kylie and buried underneath Gail's granny flat in 2015. When the body was discovered, the Platts let another dead man – Tony Stewart – get blamed for the murder.
With Gary aware of what really went down, surely it's only a matter of time before he uses this secret against Sarah and Adam?
Asked about the possibility, MacLeod replied: "Interesting! I think the short answer is yes, in a way. That's certainly part of what we're writing in scripts.
"Gary is not the only person to have nefariously disposed of a body. That does become significant. I won't say any more about it than that."
13. Sarah and Gary's relationship will remain complicated
Sarah and Gary have moved on with new partners, but it sounds as though they'll still be sharing plenty of scenes in the coming months. These will tie in with the ongoing Rick story. Will Sarah ever find out that Gary killed the gangster – and partly to protect her?
"I'm just reading scripts where their complicated feelings for each other are still causing them headaches and dilemmas. There are complicated decisions that have to be made," MacLeod said.
"Sarah has no idea of the lengths he went to, and I think that's coloured some of Gary's less-than-gallant behaviour towards her. What Gary did to Rick is a massive secret and it's going to be a large component of what plays out over the rest of the year."
14. Gemma will reach a turning point
After weeks of struggling in silence, Gemma has sought help for her issues and has been diagnosed with post-natal depression. Upcoming episodes see her journey continue, as she attends a support group and takes heart from listening to other mothers who have been through similar experiences.
"We wanted to tell a story with some positivity," MacLeod shared.
"Ultimately Gemma will come out the other side of this somewhat changed with what she's been through emotionally. She'll have a new level of appreciation and love for her mum, and obviously will go on to become a fantastic mum to those quads in her own inimitable way.
"I'm not saying she won't occasionally feed them turkey twizzlers and Wotsits, and let them watch Nightmare on Elm Street at the age of 11, and all those other things you might expect Gemma to do with her kids!
"But ultimately she's a fantastic mum and it throws off the spectre of her own upbringing. I think Gemma thought she'd be a terrible mother because her own mother was a terrible one. But this will ultimately give her the confidence to believe in herself a bit."
15. Nina will confront Dev
Asha has her own tough journey ahead, as she continues to struggle with her private video being shared among her friends and published online. Fortunately, one person who's fighting her corner is Nina – who even bravely confronts Dev for not dealing with the situation properly.
On the story's future, MacLeod said: "It certainly has a way to go. It's part of a long-term direction for Asha, as a struggle with her self esteem.
"Nina's role in that is to be a brilliant friend and supporter. Nina is used to having people look askance at her and talk about her behind her back. She has learned to be out and proud, own her life and own her life story. So she is instrumental in helping Asha put herself together emotionally.
"Dev's struggle with it is completely understandable, really. He wants to wade in and fix it all – this is his little girl. He can still remember chasing her around in the back garden when she was in her nappy, but now she's in this hellish adult world as a really young woman.
"It's a nightmare for him. He tries his best – with some input from Nina, who gives him a stern talking-to. This shifts his attitude to what Asha has done."
Coronation Street currently airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7.30pm on ITV.
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