It may be the year for comebacks on the cobbles as another character is making a big return to Coronation Street. Next week fans of the ITV soap will see Audrey Roberts being rushed to hospital after a horror accident.
During Monday night's trip to the cobbles, viewers saw Audrey's daughter Gail Platt expressing concerns to daughter-in-law Shona over her mum's drinking. After they arrived back from Audrey having a procedure on her eye, the former hairdresser was quickly asking for a stiff drink.
And spoilers now show that the Corrie legend, played by Sue Nicholls, will bend up in a tussle with her own daughter. Next week, Shona agrees to keep an eye on Audrey, on condition Gail disposes of the Thai brass elephant. But with Audrey gone walkabout, Gail tracks her down to the Rovers where she tries to wrestle a bottle of red wine from her hand.
But in the meantime, Audrey and Rita finally bury the hatchet and raise a toast to growing old disgracefully. However, Audrey is later found by Rita Tanner enjoying her first drink of the day in Rovers one morning. In a bid to get her back to her best, the fellow soap icon, played by Barbara Knox, tries to encourage her back to work, reminding her she owns the barbers.
David is then left in despair as Audrey announces she’s returning to work, before cracking open the wine and flirting with Ryan who’s in for a cut at Trim Up North. But David asserts it’s time Audrey went home, but as she heads for her coat, she trips over the Thai elephant, sending her sprawling across the floor.
Arriving to find a tipsy Audrey playing table football with Ryan, Maria insists she go home but Audrey refuses. At her wit’s end Gail tries to talk some sense into Audrey, but when she raises the subject of her drinking, Audrey hits the roof and announces she’s moving back home with immediate effect. Meanwhile, at the barbers, Audrey staggers into the motorbike which falls and knocks her over as Audrey cries out for help.
With nobody around to hear her calls, she ends up lying there all night. But soon Brian and Elaine - who are passing by - hear a weak cry coming from the barbers and he rushes to get some help. And it just so happens that Stephen Reid - Audrey's son - is back on the street, arriving in a taxi before immediately breaking down the door, worried for his mum, who he finds lying barely conscious on the floor of the barbers.
The storyline marks the return Todd Boyce to the role of Stephen, 15 years after he was last seen on the famous street and 26 years after making his debut in the role.
The American actor, now 60, debuted in Coronation Street as Audrey Roberts' illegitimate son with Geoff Masters in 1996 as the character bid to get his biological mother better and meet his long lost-sister Gail. He soon left, however, with nephew Nick Tilsley in tow. But he was soon back the following year to marry Leanne Battersby.
By 2007, Stephen had relocated to Italy and returned to Weatherfield to visit Audrey and Gail for Christmas. He offered his other nephew David Platt a job within his business, which David accepted. However, because of David's relationship with Gail, Stephen offered his niece Sarah the job instead and returned to Milan with Sarah and her daughter Bethany.
Todd has, so far, appeared in 47 episodes of the series ranging between 1996 and 2007. Speaking about how his return came about, Todd said: "I watched the show all the time I have ever since I was a kid in Australia it was always on. Then I did it in 1996 and I've never stopped watching. I think I was living in fear that they might replace me and get someone else to play Stephen if I was not available and they needed him to come back.
"Then in December, my agent said he got a call with an availability check for me to return and was I interested? I said I definitely was and then in January I had a zoom call with Iain Macleod [Corrie's producer] who told me about his plans for the character and I knew it was something I wanted to do, no doubt about it at all, I had a wonderful time last time so I was excited to come back. Stephen is often talked about by Sarah, or Nick or Audrey and I get friends saying to me ‘you were mentioned again last night’ so it felt right to be stepping into his shoes again."
