Inside Soap UK 3 - 2016

Tell me it’s not true! I’d just got my head around the fact that Carla Connor would be taking a break from the Street later this year when actress Alison King drops a bombshell – she’s not coming back! It’s interesting how some characters come and go, and you never give them a second thought, but others just become part of the show’s DNA, and you find it impossible to imagine the soap without them. Carla is one of those characters, and we’ve lapped up her many dramas (three hubbies, three road accidents, two fires, several infidelities, and a couple of arrests for murder – the list goes on and on!). But even when she’s been badly behaved, self-indulgent or downright nasty, we’ve never stopped caring about the gravel-voiced factory…

“ LAUREL KNOWS ASHLEY MIGHT NOT BE ALIVE WHEN THE BABY IS BORN ” There’s a massive shock in store for Laurel and Ashley this week, when they find out they are expecting another child – putting the recently reunited pair in a devastating quandary! Under normal circumstances they’d be overjoyed to discover they were going to be parents again, but following Ashley’s tragic diagnosis of early-onset dementia, the couple’s future is blighted with uncertainty. Stunned by the news, Laurel faces the prospect of trying to make Ashley understand that there’s simply no way they can keep their unborn baby… “Laurel knows that this is going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, because she’s not going to be able to cope with both a newborn and Ashley’s…

While Ashley’s dementia makes for difficult viewing, Charlotte – along with her co-star John Middleton, who plays the vicar – relishes the task as an actor. However, there’s a high price to pay for this opportunity, and that’s John’s Dales departure… “I’m really excited because it’s going to be a big year for Ashley and Laurel, and there are lots of challenges ahead,” grins Charlotte. “But as a friend of John’s, I know we are going to lose him – not yet, but we are going to lose him at some point. I feel really sad about that!”…

“ JENNY TRIES TO EXPLAIN - BUT ARE KEVIN AND SOPHIE GOING TO LISTEN ” Shock waves reverberate across the cobbles this week – after Rita invites troubled Jenny Bradley back to Weatherfield. In the months since she kidnapped little Jack Webster, Jenny has been working hard to combat her mental health problems, and feels ready to make amends with everybody she hurt. It’s former foster-mum Rita whom Jenny contacts via Facebook, asking for the chance to meet up and talk. But when their encounter takes a bleak turn, Rita realises she can’t let Jenny fend for herself… “Jenny chooses to reach out to Rita because they have so much history,” explains Sally Ann Matthews, who plays her. “She tells her that she’s fully recovered – she’s fallen on her…

It was the overwhelmingly positive response to Jenny’s return last year that prompted Corrie bosses to bring the character back in 2016 – something which Sally Ann finds deeply gratifying… “It’s nice that viewers bought into the story, and that they care enough to want to know where Jenny’s been and what she’s been doing,” enthuses the actress. “It’s great to be back under circumstances where there are some people who hate Jenny for what she did, but others who want to see her reconcile with Kevin. “A lot of fans out in public shout in jest, ‘I’m not going near you! You’re that Jenny Bradley off the Street!’. But I don’t mind, as long as people aren’t throwing things at me!”…

“ PHIL’S AN ABSOLUTE CAR CRASH - HIS BEHAVIOUR IS INCREDIBLY OFFENSIVE ” Brace yourselves for distressing scenes on the Square this week, as alcoholic Phil is taken to hospital after coughing up blood! The harrowing incident takes place at the Queen Vic after the drunken hard man – who was recently diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver – falls violently ill during Honey and Billy’s engagement party. His concerned loved ones call for an ambulance – but is it too late to save him? “What happens to Phil is very frightening,” warns our EastEnders insider. “You can just imagine the sea of horrified faces in the pub when he begins choking on his own claret. If this doesn’t make him realise he needs urgent care, nothing will.” It was…