The shocking conclusion to Stephen Reid’s storyline, in which the character is unceremoniously murdered on the cobblestones by a beloved local, was shown on Coronation Street tonight.
The episode aired at the conclusion of Super Soap Week this year, during which Stephen’s friends and family finally learned the full scope of his numerous crimes from the previous year.
Along with the murders of Leo Thompkins (Joe Frost), Teddy Thompkins (Grant Burgin), and Rufus Donahue (Steven Meo), Stephen has also stolen equity from his mother Audrey’s home, drugged Carla to make her think she was having a mental breakdown, and most recently, stolen £250,000 from the Underworld accounts as he prepared to flee Weatherfield.
Partner Jenny (Sally Ann Matthews) was squarely in Stephen’s sights when he discovered his passport had been taken from his bag at Liverpool airport and was compelled to return to the cobbles.
Although Rita (Barbara Knox) was concerned about what would happen if Stephen came looking, Jenny admitted to Rita that she had taken Stephen’s passport to prevent him from leaving the country.
Later, as Jenny and Rita were passing the boarded-up Rovers Return, Jenny heard a noise that had the audience on the edge of their seats. Jenny made the decision to investigate when she noticed the back door was open and made a commitment to meet Rita at Roy’s Rolls shortly after.
Jenny exhaled a sigh of relief when Dylan (Liam McCheyne) and Mason (Luca Toolan) hastily left. She was relieved that it was just a little bit of teenage mischief. Jenny felt it was her duty to head deeper inside and make sure there hadn’t been any damage despite being abruptly fired and ejected by the pub’s new owners.
Jenny and Sarah shared a suspect bottle of leftover sherry as they bemoaned the Stephen situation when Sarah later arrived after spotting activity in the upstairs window. Jenny had assumed Stephen to be a conman up until this point, so it came as a huge shock when Sarah revealed that he had actually killed both of Jenny’s ex-boyfriends, Leo and Teddy.
Sarah saw her upstairs closing the curtains and assumed she already knew, so she went to see how she was doing. Jenny’s blood ran cold at that precise moment as she struggled with the horror of learning that the man she loved was a murderer. She wasn’t upstairs.
Sarah was the first to sneak out the back of the bar as the two realized they had to leave, but Stephen hit her over the head with a bottle and knocked her out. When Stephen realized who he had struck, he was horrified.
At a press conference last week, Todd Boyce exclusively revealed to EverySoap that “He feels terrible.” “He has hurt my lovely, frail niece. Because of how much he cares for Sarah, hurting her would only make him more desperate. The absolute worst day is today. He still believes, “Just give me the passport Jenny, you look after Sarah, but I can’t wait and stay for an ambulance,” despite this. It really is awful.
However, Jenny was unwilling to comply with Stephen’s demands because she was determined to learn the truth from him regarding his crimes, especially the deaths of Leo, Teddy, and Rufus.
Stephen responded that he didn’t want to fail again when she questioned why he did it. After failing in Milan, he knew that returning to Weatherfield was his only remaining option. He was determined not to lose his family’s perception of him as successful at home, especially Audrey (Sue Nicholls). Despite everything, he assured Jenny that his love for her remained true.
Sarah unexpectedly entered the room and hit Stephen over the head with a chair as he became increasingly hysterical and grabbed Jenny to prevent her from sounding the alarm.
When Sean and Adam heard the commotion and screams coming from inside while they were outside, they all worked to try and remove the boarding from the doors.
As Adam and Michael made their way around the back, Stephen held a broken bottle to Jenny’s neck and warned them that they had no idea what he was capable of.
Just as the Platts arrived, Stephen entered the street with Jenny serving as his hostess.
At his most frantic, Stephen demanded David (Jack P Shepherd) turn around his car so he could flee, much to David’s chagrin (“Why does it have to be my car…”).
He admitted everything he had done as his mother while he impatiently waited. Audrey made an effort to persuade him that the only way forward was to give himself up.
Todd gave a hint that there’s more to come when Todd questioned whether Stephen would actually be able to harm Jenny.
“No… He thought, “That’s a really interesting question. “If you watch the subsequent episodes, what happens will be very important. They have a conversation, and it will be interesting to learn what was said.
Could there be a flashback scene that reveals what happened in the pub’s final seconds?
Stephen was persuaded to release Jenny when David eventually arrived with his car and parked it outside the hospital. only for Stephen to be knocked to the ground by Peter (Chris Gascoyne), who suddenly appeared in his taxi.
Audrey sprinted over to Stephen as he was being thrown through the air and hit the ground with a sickening thump.
Audrey leaned over a bloodied Stephen, telling him everything would be okay as she watched her son die in front of her, but there was nothing she could do.
We saw Stephen Reid zipped up inside a body bag when the police and paramedics arrived, which served as confirmation of his demise.
What will happen to Peter, though? It was revealed in a flashback to a police interview that Peter had already released Jenny and thrown the bottle away when he knocked Stephen to the ground. Is Peter going to be accused of murder now that Stephen doesn’t pose a threat right away?
As the episode came to a close, we also witnessed another twist that provided an explanation for what had happened to Joe Duttine’s character Tim Metcalfe. After being attacked by Stephen, he was last seen being loaded into the boot of his taxi, seemingly dead. A dog had been called away by its owner earlier in the episode as it approached the taxi.
But Tim unexpectedly opened his eyes—he’s alive!—as we headed back to the taxi in the dusk.
But Tim isn’t quite out of the woods yet (figuratively speaking). Will he be found in time, or will Stephen harvest one more victim from the afterlife?
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