Coronation Street spoilers follow.
A new year has arrived, so it's time for Coronation Street's annual tradition as producer Iain MacLeod spills plenty of gossip about what's ahead in Weatherfield over the next few months.
Iain recently sat down with Digital Spy and other press for an in-depth chat about upcoming storylines for the Street's residents, so without further ado, here's what he shared with us.
Where does Max's far-right grooming story go from here?
"The story will reach its climax in the first couple of months of the year. By the start of 2023, Max has become even more estranged from his family than he has been. This leads him into extremely dangerous territory, it's fair to say.
"Max will, over the course of 2023, realise the error of his ways. A lot of what we're doing after that is about him being deprogrammed and un-brainwashed. There is a redemption on the horizon for him after what he's been through, but the after-effects – like with all stories – last for a very long time after that."
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How does that affect things for David, especially with Shona away for a while?
"At its core, what we wanted was a parenting story. It's a parenting challenge for David and, once Julia Goulding returns from maternity leave, it will be for Shona as well.
"The starting point is: what do you do if your teenager is being radicalised and drifting away from your family? Do you go in hard and ban devices? Do you go 'softly softly', or does that risk going too soft so they think there's no serious consequences and they drift away?
"What's most interesting for me is seeing how this affects David, who has had a light touch parenting approach over the years. He has treated Max more like a friend than a son. Biologically, Max is not his son, which has had an input on that as well.
"David has to finally knuckle down and face the biggest parenting challenge he's had. Jack [P Shepherd, who plays David] is a consummate performer and there's absolutely brilliant stuff to come."
Will Jacob's father Damon bring drama to the Street this year?
"Lots! Damon is dangerous. At first, he might seem more sophisticated than his brother Harvey. He's less of a blunt instrument, but what we discover in the not too distant future is that more polished, jovial veneer masks something every bit as dangerous and brutal as Harvey.
"Damon upends a lot of people's lives and brings criminality into a family that could probably do from moving on from their past. They end up right back in the mess again thanks to him.
"There's loads of stuff to play as Damon reconnects with other family members and affects their lives as well."
Could there be a love interest for Damon?
"As the year goes on, Damon has a magnetic attraction for a notable high profile female character, who ends up having her head turned. That has far-reaching consequences.
"We're currently working on June storylines. There's a build-up and a colossal explosion in that story, involving Damon and this love story that will be on air then."
Could we see Harvey return now that we know his connections to Damon and Jacob?
"I don't think his status as a legendary hard man has been too diminished by putting on a sparkly shirt every Saturday night! I would love to think at some point we can revisit Will Mellor.
"It's tricky when characters are in jail – how do you import their influence into the show? But we've overcome more difficult hurdles than that in the past.
"At some point, I'd love to think we can get Harvey on the street and stick him in a room with Damon. By the time Harvey were to get out, him and Damon would be absolute enemies. The idea of Harvey vs Damon in the future is tantalising."
Are there any confirmed returns in the works?
"I don't think so. We discussed a couple at long-term story conference, which went away again.
"Sharon is still out there. Tracie Bennett is a very busy, in demand actor, but she definitely still exists out there.
"Sharon is not biologically related to Damon, who is Harvey's half brother, but she is a wrong un who left with ambitions to take over the criminal underworld and family business. It's been discussed that she might make a return, but there's nothing on the table yet."
Fiz and Tyrone are now married, but are they really free of John Stape?
"Not entirely. Hope's surname is still Stape, even after the wedding for a while. She does start to dwell on her dad. She received a little bit of corrupted information on John from her half-sister Jade, but she still really doesn't know a great deal about him.
"Hope develops a toxic curiosity about John that leads to fairly interesting blackly comedic territory. She becomes slightly obsessed in a way that causes problems for Fiz and Tyrone.
"They'll face some difficulty parenting Hope going forward. Without giving too much away, Hope's troubled behaviour ends up in a fairly acrimonious feud with an adult neighbour that involves a chinchilla!
"Hope's behaviour will become increasingly difficult over the course of the year but there's also extremely light-hearted bits."
Are Fiz and Tyrone back on solid ground aside from that?
"There's a lovely bit where Fiz and Tyrone feel a bit like they're sleepwalking back into the staleness that led Ty to stray, so they decide to reignite the romantic side of their relationship.
"That all goes horrendously wrong thanks to advice from Sally. Her and Tim's dressing up box features, but it's really funny and has Evelyn in the middle, who is funny all the time."
Can you tease the future of Stephen's serial killer storyline?
"Everyone should be worried! The whole cast is worried and asking: 'Is it going to be me?' Whenever I call an actor in for a chat, they say: 'That's it! Todd Boyce is going to do me in!'
"We know Stephen did away with Leo, partly out of necessity, and partly out of male pride when Leo called him an old man. Needless to say in a soap, no bodies ever stay buried for long, so Stephen encounters some fairly serious jeopardy in the form of Leo's dad Teddy.
"Teddy has the whiff of suspicion around Stephen and thinks he might have something to do with Leo's disappearance. We know what Stephen did last time he was backed into a corner, so the question is: to what lengths will he go to rid himself of this new threat?"
Is the story going to run for a while?
"Todd gives such a clever performance. In the desperate scenes after Stephen killed Leo, we felt a profound sense of empathy – he was almost sorry, so broken, red eyed and exhausted.
"The story is a bit like a film noir – due to his fatal flaw of arrogance and egotism, a man's need to be top dog drives him into increasingly desperate acts over the next 12 months.
"There's lots to come, in the best tradition of Corrie villains. If you compare him to our esteemed bad guys of the past, he's got shades of Richard Hillman for me.
"It's that kind of pompous refusal to accept you're on the bones of your behind. He has the desire to present the image of the successful guy. Everything about what he's doing and about this story I find really exciting."
Stephen starts feuding with Carla, doesn't he?
"Yes, he sees his first step back on the ladder to the top of the international rag trade as getting a gig in Underworld and toppling current queen of the pile, Carla.
"Psychological warfare begins between those two, complete with knowledge on viewers' part that Stephen has killed someone. So when Carla belittles Stephen and makes him make the tea, undercutting him in front of clients, she is unwittingly poking this hornet's nest.
"At some point all the hornets do come out, but probably not in the way you expect. If anyone predicts what Stephen does to Carla, I'll eat my hat. His plan is so out there and dark that I'd be incredibly surprised if anyone spots it coming over the hill."
Is there anything else you can tease for Carla and Peter?
"Principally their story will centre on Carla's war with Stephen. Peter's role in that is being deeply concerned about his wife's history of mental health problems.
"Peter will put Carla offside by trying to be overprotective and fight her battles, intervening in an unhelpful way to suggest her priorities are all wrong.
"We want to play them as a couple that bicker and fall out, like over Peter's conspiracy-mindedness. We're dramatising tensions that exist in a normal couple that have different political views. They are bubbling along nicely, but in readiness for when Carla is thrust into Stephen's crosshairs and the danger that comes with that."
What's coming up for Daisy and Daniel?
"Their next story is about a young woman on the internet and dangers that face influencers who have a high profile. In Daisy's case, she has quite a small fry online following, but that brings her into a certain degree of danger as the wedding approaches.
"Most of the story build-up is light-hearted. There's a culture clash with Daniel, who wants a Dickens-themed wedding. Mini-Ken Barlow wants a serious and cultured wedding, but Daisy wants everything to be a bit extra. There's much fun to be had there.
"In the background, a creeping danger arises from Daisy's online life. By the time that surfaces, it takes a while for them to realise danger is brewing.
"It's an interesting, current, socially important story with far reaching psychological impact, running across the whole of 2023 and it threatens their relationship. It leads to Daisy's faith in Daniel being shaken as she maybe has her head turned."
What can we expect from the arrival of Amy Robbins as Daisy's mum Christina?
"She's chaotic, selfish and hates Jenny! There's lots of comedy – Christina knows karate, which is a problem for Jenny who doesn't. The moment I clapped eyes on Amy's audition tape, it was just her. I've never known it quite so resounding as that – as soon as you see her.
"Christina's arrival provides lightness in the run-up to the wedding. She also illuminates Daisy's backstory. Daisy presents as very together and comfortable in her own skin. We discover her past is slightly sadder than that.
"There's nothing hugely tragic or traumatic, but we round out Daisy's backstory and end up feeling really sorry for her, which balances out the crazy wedding planning."
What's coming up with the younger cast?
"We've still got a fantastic cohort of younger cast. There's a huge story we can tell with them right at the heart of it – it's very relatable and very teenage. We're hoping it's the kind of story that shocks a bit and provokes awkward conversations in front of the TV.
"The cross-generational appeal of Corrie means that younger people might sit and watch it with their nana. This story, I think, will encourage conversations you'd never normally have in that cross generational way, because it's tricky tonal territory.
"I'm pleased with it. We're working with charities to make sure we get the detail right and fundamentally it's just about those brilliant young actors being the superstars they are, then reaching out into the wider street through people who are connected to them.
"Seb and Nina's storyline was ostensibly about an assault on a teenager that drew in Roy, Abi, and a whole cross generational group of characters. Those are our best stories, the ones that don't live in one demographic corner.
"This new story is exactly one of those. There's huge stuff for those directly involved – then parents, loved ones, families, extended friendship groups and ripples spread out across the whole show."
Will the dynamic change between Todd, Billy and Paul this year?
"Romance is in the air for two of them, but I'll leave you to guess which pair it might be. Historically there's been strong feelings from both Team Todd and Billy, or the other side with Team Paul and Billy.
"We've been back and forth for years and have picked a team, but whatever team ends up being the couple at the end, the story will be about the three of them.
"My Two Dads did well as a sitcom so we figured My Three Dads has got to be one better! I love the dynamic, it feels entirely unique and I can't think of anything like it on another soap or drama – a same-sex trio parenting a troubled 19-year-old girl.
"We see a lot of heart from Todd in places and a lot of deviance in places. We crash a huge story onto one of them, which causes former enemies to become best friends in secret. It's a really interesting year for all of them and they'll be at the centre of one of our biggest stories."
Where is the Summer, Mike and Esther saga going next?
"It's going to end badly for some of them. We realised that Summer, for a very intelligent young woman, has made some incredibly bad decisions across the year. She will continue to make a couple more over this year.
"Driven by the fact that Summer feels guilty for some of the lies she has told to Esther and Mike, and now wants to make amends, she allows herself to turn a blind eye to some of the red flags going off in Esther and Mike's relationship and in their story generally.
"Summer finds herself in a certain degree of mortal danger as a result of her determination to do right by them and make up for the lies.
"It's exciting, but in the end it's about the family – her three dads that save her from oblivion and bring her back to normality and reconnect her with who she was before she lost her way.
"The scenes are grounded and real. You find yourself in a heightened denouement, but it all makes perfect sense and you're breaking your heart for this young woman who is so lost."
Will Abi have a happier year?
"There'll be happiness more than sadness. She is embroiled in one of the other stories I've talked about and becomes a key confidante to one of the youngsters in the big socially responsible issue story.
"Abi becomes a surrogate mum and has big dilemmas about whose version of events does she believe and who does she side with? That causes her to investigate her own history of substance misuse over the years.
"Beyond that, there's a couple of things on the table we're toying with, both of which are quite happy in flavour. One I really want to do, but it's a bit similar to another story we're telling at the moment so we'll just have to wait. But it involves Abi reconnecting with somebody from her past, who transpires to be the last possible person you'd expect to find in her backstory.
"That will cause a massive culture clash comedy. She meets somebody from her past she has a historical connection with, who is the polar opposite, so it's an odd couple story.
"We are very keen to see Abi happy and Sally Carman feels like that too – she must have felt wrung out by the end of all those big stories. We want her and Kevin to be happy but never too comfortable so it's boring. They'll be happy but we'll throw stuff at them."
On a light-hearted note, Roy is getting a mobile phone for the first time…
"It's a classic Corrie story about Roy and mobile phone addictions! I heard rumours when I got here at Corrie that David Neilson's one red line was that Roy would never have a mobile phone. When we storylined it, I was hiding in case he was going to go mad!
"In the end he didn't and he really appreciates the comedy behind it. Obviously to some degree, by the end of the story, normal service is resumed. Roy's not going to be posting TikTok videos or anything like that.
"There's a fun journey to go on about the generational difference between him and Nina.
"That also draws Evelyn into the mix. I'm increasingly loving their dynamic – they're both a similar age, they're idiosyncratic characters, and there's clearly a massive depth of affection there, but neither would admit that because they think it's very un-British and unseemly.
"This buttoned-up friendship emerges across the course of the phone story, which I'm excited to see. Both are obviously such fantastic actors, so it's one of my favourite things in the new year."
What's next for Sally and Tim?
"There's family drama for them. We didn't want to do anything to them as a couple, like Fiz and Ty have gone through the mill in the past couple of years.
"Romantically Sally and Tim are happy, and most of their problems arise for a story down the pipeline for Faye and Craig.
"Surprise communication arrives in one of their inboxes out of nowhere and suddenly everybody is lying to each other and sneaking around, with a certain amount of motivated dishonesty. It's a big family story, rather than marital strife and fighting."
Can Spider and Toyah's relationship survive?
"I can't say too much but Spider is obviously integrally related to the Max story and will have a part to play in the unknitting of it in the end. Toyah will obviously have ongoing difficulties with the level of danger his job requires him to submit himself to.
"I think the most I can say without giving a lot away is he's definitely mixed up in the Max story. Spider has a moment of heroism that endangers his life somewhat, and shows himself to be the decent bloke we know he is.
"Toyah has been on a roller coaster of what she thinks about Spider, but he is a good man and proves himself to be a hero. I'm making it sound like he's going to die but I'm not necessarily saying that!"
Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.
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