Inside Soap UK 43 - 2020

“We take a journey through Corrie history” Welcome to your super-duper, supersized, super-packed-to-the-rafters issue of Inside Soap. We have extra pages this week, and have served up some fantastic features and interviews to keep you busy – just when it looks as though we might all be spending a lot more time at home again… With Corrie’s 60th coming up, we thought it was high time we took a deep dive with the show’s original and biggest star. Nope, not Ken Barlow, but those famous red bricks and cobbles of the Street itself. We take a journey through Corrie history, go behind the scenes, and find out straight from the horse’s mouth what it’s like to work on that iconic set. Then, we take a leap into the future with…

All hell breaks loose on the Street this week, after armed robber Scott turns over the Bistro and guns down a much-loved resident – before holding terrified Jenny hostage! Johnny’s past returns to haunt him as he desperately tries to stop history from repeating itself, and finally fesses up to Jenny about the botched robbery that he and Scott carried out together years ago. However, Johnny’s confession is a case of too little, too late, as Scott ends his Weatherfield rampage by threatening to shoot Johnny’s wife… “If Johnny truly thought for one second that people he loved and cared for were in danger of being hurt, then he would have spoken up about Scott a long time ago,” reckons our cobbles insider. “Johnny is a totally different person from…

Hi, Sally Ann! How does Jenny feel when Johnny finally tells her the truth about his past? She’s totally shocked by it. Jenny always knew that Johnny wasn’t whiter than white. In fact, I think she quite liked the fact that he was a bad boy, with a bit of a dangerous edge. However, this kind of past – so violent and serious – is completely horrifying, and Jenny doesn’t really know what to do with it. How does she cope when Scott has her at gunpoint? Well, if someone pulled a gun on you, you would be cacking yourself – and she is! I don’t like guns, so that really added to the performance, as I was genuinely scared… Can Johnny and Jenny’s marriage survive this? For Jenny, it’s…

Paranoid Charity becomes convinced that Vanessa is having an affair this week, so ends up in a passionate clinch with a mysterious newcomer. She is certain that her fiancée is about to end their engagement, just before fate throws her into the path of a sexy stranger after they get into a car prang in the middle of the Dales. At first, feisty Charity goes looking for a fight and compensation from the driver who’s damaged her vehicle. However, as the confrontation turns flirty, she finds herself drawn to the charming bloke – and they end up sharing a stolen kiss! Has the reckless woman really risked everything with Vanessa for a snog on the roadside? “Uh, oh – Charity is up to her old tricks again!” warns our Dales…

Dear Charity, Well, you’ve made some progress in the whole ‘relationships’ thing since meeting Vanessa. But old habits die hard, and once again you’re making bad decisions at the first sign of trouble. However, we can congratulate you on at least finding someone other than Cain to cheat with! So well done on a different bloke, and congratulations at stopping at just a kiss for once. Sadly, we think that’ll be cold comfort to Vanessa, but it’s one line of argument to take. Good luck! Lots of love, Inside Soap xxx…

Gambling addict Kush drifts into dangerous territory this week – after he steals money from Ruby, then gets lured into a poker game with Suki and the Panesar boys! Kat’s put-upon fella has been struggling to control his gambling habit of late, which makes Kush an easy target for Suki, as she and Ruby hatch a plan to run the Slaters out of Walford. With Kush a mere pawn in their cruel game, does he stand to lose everything if he can’t get a grip on his addiction? “The trouble is, Kush doesn’t believe that he has a problem,” explains actor Davood Ghadami, who plays him. “He thinks it’s just a flutter here and there, and that what he’s doing doesn’t have a negative effect on him or others around…