Tommy heads back to the cobbles (Picture: ITV)
An old face returns to Coronation Street on Christmas Day – and it’s the start of a huge storyline for the show that will continue throughout next year and lead to some major upheavals among the regular characters.
While Christmas is supposed to be a happy and joyful time for families to be together, obviously it can also bring its own friction and challenges.
Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford) is feeling the strain, particularly when she discovers that she’s cooking Christmas dinner for ten people. Her bad mood gets worse when Steve (Simon Gregson) attempts a lighthearted quip and she fails to see the funny side.
A grumpy Tracy has had enough and storms out of the house heading for the flower shop where she’s stashed a nice bottle of wine.
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Who should she see when she gets there but flashy footballer Tommy Orpington (Matt Milburn) who wants to buy some flowers for his mum.
We first met Tommy when he and his fiancée employed Michelle Connor (Kym Marsh) to plan their wedding. This led to a friendship with Steve and caused a rift between Steve and best mate Tim Metcalfe (Joe Duttine).
Tommy has appeared as part of other storylines but he’s about to be at the centre of this major new story, as the show’s producer Iain Macleod revealed.
Could Tommy cause trouble for Steve? (Picture: ITV)
‘You’ll see him on Christmas Day. Since leaving football, he has made some bad business investments, his wife has left him.
‘He’s now had to return to the trade he had when he was a non-league footballer, which is painter and decorator but he’s in a good place where we find him and there might be one of our female characters that needs some decorating done – not a euphemism.’
Could this be Tracy following this chance Christmas Day meeting? Iain wasn’t naming names but added:
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‘This attractive, successful man arrives into one of our female characters lives and upsets the apple cart in fairly spectacular fashion, shall we say?
‘The cast involved are really up for it as well and it’s very funny.’ That certainly sounds like it has Tracy’s name all over it, but Iain warned that the story will have its serious side and could lead to some heartbreak further down the line.
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‘It’s potentially quite sad in certain places. It triggers something really big for us over the next 12 months, a big new direction for some characters.’
Could he be talking about the end of the iconic pairing of Steve and Tracy?
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It’s the start of a huge storyline.