8 ways Corrie's Pat Phelan could get his comeuppance
Can you believe it's nearly been four years since Pat Phelan first popped up to cause misery for the residents of Coronation Street? Okay, so there was a pretty big gap between his two stints in the show, but that's still a long old time to wait for the resident villain to get his just desserts.
Phelan's been such a brilliant character that there are bound to be mixed feelings when he finally gets his comeuppance, but all signs point to it happening in the autumn. The all-important question is how. Are we already getting early hints on how it might end? Here, we weigh up the various options.
1. Andy escapes?
If he lives through his current ordeal, poor old Andy Carver will surely look back on 2017 as his worst year ever. Bullied and blackmailed by Phelan, losing his girlfriend Steph, hit over the head with a laptop and then locked in a basement for eight lonely months. Not even Gail could compete in the misery stakes.
After such a torrid time for the character, surely Corrie bosses are going to give Andy his moment of triumph at some point down the line? We reckon he deserves a chance to make his escape from that basement, go rushing into The Rovers and expose Phelan's true colours to everyone.
This seems a strong possibility, since it'd make for a great soap reveal moment. Our only fear is the Corrie golden rule of everyone believing the wrong person would come into play. We wouldn't put it past some of the slow-witted residents to refuse to believe a word of it and buy Phelan a pint in a show of solidarity...
2. Eileen finally gets a clue?
Eileen's history when it comes to spotting soap villains isn't the strongest. She memorably defended crazy Kirsty Soames for months and convinced herself that Tyrone "wouldn't-harm-a-fly" Dobbs was a domestic abuser. Now she's at it again, refusing to believe anyone who points out that her husband is a lying, cheating, sleazy conman.
Next week's Corrie offers some hope that Eileen could discover the truth when she tracks down Phelan in his secret cellar. Sadly, Sue Cleaver – who plays Eileen – has already revealed that her character fails to spot Andy or notice that anything is wrong. D'oh.
As much as we love Eileen, there's always a danger that she'll lose some of her popularity when every storyline seems to see her lacking any common sense. With this in mind, could Corrie have Eileen redeem herself at the 11th hour and be the one to bring down Phelan? Perhaps she'll finally gather together the clues and realise she's been a fool for love? We won't have much sympathy, mind.
3. Nicola knows all?
The introduction of Phelan's daughter Nicola has helped to explore a softer side to the Corrie bad boy, but could the writers have an even bigger purpose in mind for her? Nicola seems pretty smart and not somebody who'd be oblivious to warning signs for too long, so if anyone stands a chance of exposing his true colours, it's her.
We've already seen tell-tale signs that Nicola isn't totally sold on Phelan just yet, as she failed to tell her boyfriend who he really was when they were introduced last week. Upcoming episodes also see Nicola left confused when she discovers that Phelan has secret photos of Andy at the builders' yard (a bit creepy, by the way), forcing him to make excuses.
Could this be the start of Nicola gathering up the evidence and realising what daddy dearest is really capable of? When a future storyline sees Nicola get pregnant after a one-night stand with Gary Windass, it'll be interesting to see if Phelan's mask slips as he reacts to his daughter's dilemma.
4. Anna gets the last laugh?
Anna was the first victim of Phelan, as his original Corrie stint saw the schemer blackmail her into sleeping with him in exchange for clearing the Windass family's debts. Anna has understandably hated Phelan's guts since then, but in true Corrie style, she hasn't had much luck convincing everyone of what he's really like.
Although Anna and Phelan's shared screen time is minimal these days, that's likely to change soon when Nicola and Gary discover they're expecting a baby together. Anna's exit from Corrie is also looming and show bosses have already promised that we'll see her "tackling old enemies head-on" before she goes.
After the terrible way Phelan treated Anna and got away with it, it'd certainly be fitting if she was the one to cause his downfall.
5. Vinny shares a few home truths?
We were starting to wonder if Corrie had forgotten the storyline which saw Phelan con half of the Street with a property scam – the local residents certainly wiped it from their memories quickly enough! Surprisingly though, it's finally being mentioned on screen again in the build-up to Phelan's partner-in-crime Vinny Ashford making a return.
This week, we saw no-nonsense Yasmeen Nazir telling Nicola all about the flats fiasco, prompting Phelan to repeat his usual sob story about how he was a victim in the situation too.
Ian Kelsey recently returned to filming in his role as Vinny, who's one of the only people who can correct Phelan's lies. When Vinny returns, will he reveal that Phelan was part of the con all along? And if so, will anyone believe him?
6. Phelan kills?
Despite his status as a Corrie supervillain, Phelan hasn't committed murder yet. His biggest crime was leaving Michael Rodwell to die when he suffered a heart attack, but we can't exactly blame him for tragic Mike's dodgy ticker, can we?
Phelan also shied away from cold-blooded murder when Vinny wanted to get rid of Todd. He's also gone to great effort to keep Andy alive, when it probably would have just been easier to clobber him over the head with that laptop again and finish off the job.
Is this because Corrie is saving Phelan's murderous moment for his big finish? Will his final episodes on the cobbles see him caught with blood on his hands for real this time? It's certainly a possibility, as he's already dug a grave for Andy and paparazzi pictures have hinted that Daniel Osbourne could even become one of his future targets.
Weighing things up, though, we can't help but feel that Corrie won't go down the "secret killer" route with Phelan now. We reckon he'll be more fondly remembered for his villainy taking other forms, rather than just being another Richard Hillman. Who knows though? With Super Soap Week coming up in October, anything is possible. And speaking of which...
7. Who Killed Phelan?
In case you've forgotten, ITV always has a special week in October where Corrie and Emmerdale suddenly go nuts with stunts, shocks and surprises aplenty. In 2016, it was the big week where David caused an explosion on the cobbles that left Anna Windass badly burned, but even that seemed tame compared to the motorway carnage that Emmerdale served up.
Not to be outdone, could Corrie raise the stakes this year by killing off Phelan as karma catches up with him in a ratings-grabbing plot? He could become the casualty of a big stunt, or be murdered in a whodunit plot.
Granted, the last big Corrie whodunit was only a few months ago with Ken Barlow, but with so many possible suspects and motives in the mix, perhaps the show would be missing a trick if they didn't go down this route?
8. Phelan confesses?
Phelan has been full of surprises ever since he stepped foot on the cobbles, so could Corrie be saving his biggest shock until last? We're used to seeing Corrie wrong'uns get their comeuppance when they're caught out by someone, but part of Phelan's unique appeal has been his complexities and how he's kept the audience on their toes.
Much like when he faced the public backlash over his flats scam rather than doing a runner, could Phelan become master of his own destiny once again by confessing everything to the police? We've already seen the guilt he feels when he spoke to a priest in the confessional, so was this a clue to Phelan's endgame?
If he confesses, slippery Phelan might even get off with a reduced sentence and be back to haunt the cobbles in no time... now there's a thought!
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Digital Spy Soap Scoop video – hit play below for all the latest Coronation Street gossip, as Eileen finds Phelan's secret cellar and stalker Will strikes again.
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