Inside Soap UK 23 - 2022

“How far does your sympathy stretch?” Soaps were once described to me by a producer as “bad things happening to good people”. But is that true? Bad things, that’s for sure… But good people? If you gathered everyone truly ‘without sin’ in Walford they’d fit in the phone box beside the swings and still leave room to hold a Zumba class. It’s something we ponder when putting together an Inside Soap cover, as we look for characters that readers will feel sympathy for, before telling you what awful things are about to happen to them. Though how far does sympathy stretch? It’s a question mused by Corrie’s Sally Carman this week – who understands that for every viewer praying for a happy ending for Abi, there’s another hoping she’ll be…

Linda is left fighting for her life this week, after she and her love rival Janine are involved in a horrifying car crash! The dramatic twist takes place when Janine is driving drunk Linda home. And while Janine is behind the wheel, the feud between her and Mick’s ex-missus escalates – with potentially fatal consequences! “It goes very dark and some very bad things happen – you will not believe it!” teases EastEnders star Kellie Bright, aka Linda. “Suffice to say that Linda is left in a critical condition…” The two women end up in the same car together after Linda has a huge bust-up with daughter Nancy, and rings Mick to pick her up. But Janine answers her SOS call instead. “Linda has driven off with Nancy on a…

Linda and Janine’s mutual hatred was bound to reach a life-threatening crescendo sooner or later, and their epic crash is sure to leave viewers on the edge of their seats. Still buzzing from filming the special stunt on location, Kellie beamed as she told us how much she enjoyed being part of such an exciting sequence. “It was so much fun to do,” shares the star. “We didn’t get to do the actual stunt itself, we just did what they call ‘the swerve’. So Charlie [Brooks, aka Janine] and I were sitting in a stunt car with a guy sat on the roof in a kind of go-kart crash thing, and he was controlling the car from above. “He drives it and makes it skid across the road – it…

The truth about Jamie Tate is dangerously close to being revealed this week, after Kim collars Will for stealing. She’s horrified to find her fiancé in possession of £3k in cash and the same amount missing from the company bank account. What Kim doesn’t know is that Will only took the money to get closer to the truth about her ‘dead’ son. He now has a choice of whether to let Kim think he’s a common criminal, or reveal he’s been keeping a far worse secret from her… “Stealing from Kim Tate is a mug’s game, but hiding something as huge as this is total insanity,” warns our Dales insider. “Will’s been convinced that he’s doing the right thing by her, though Kim will go nuclear if she finds out…

Kim’s world might be imploding, but at least she has a new pal to help her through it. Kim embarks on a friendship with village newcomer Mary this week, and the two women really hit it off. Kim revels in Mary’s company from their first chat, and they quickly become friends. But how will poor Rhona feel to find her mum palling up to her former love rival? There was a time when Rhona was Kim’s best friend, until they massively fell out over Graham. When Kim discovered her secret husband was falling in love with Rhona, she made their lives a misery. Given the bad blood between them, Rhona won’t be best pleased that Mary is Kim’s new flavour of the month. But will their history be enough to…

George gets a huge shock when he meets Sean’s new man this week – and realises it’s the bully who made his life hell at school! Having met Frank recently, Sean is completely smitten, and can’t wait to show him off to Eileen and George in the Rovers. But it turns out that Frank isn’t quite the dreamboat Sean thinks he is… “Frank and George immediately recognise each other, because they went to school together,” explains former Brookside actor Simon O’Brien, who plays Frank. “But whereas Frank is pleased to see him, George certainly does not reciprocate that – and he has to cover up the fact that just the sight of Frank puts him in a very bad place. It makes him very anxious.” It’s clear that George is…