The one-off episode will kick off a major storyline in the ITV soap and there are five people at risk
The Rovers Return in Coronation Street(Image: ITV)
Coronation Street has announced a major new storyline that will see a Weatherfield resident killed in a flashforward sequence – but viewers won’t know who it is.
The one-off episode, which will air in February, will see an unknown character dead on the street before revealing the five potential victims it could be, in what has been described as a complicated and intricate storyline.
Sharing details for the first time, Corrie’s producer Kate Brooks told the Manchester Evening News: “This is something that’s been in the making for a really long time.
“There are five potential victims, and we will take the audience on a journey to try and figure out who that body is and what happened. It is a who have they done it to, not a whodunit.”
She said the special episode will give the stories currently running a destination point, and added: “I don’t think I’ve ever told a story that involves quite as many character groups. Everyone’s impacted – everyone’s affected by this story. There’s so many twists and so many turns.”
It was revealed that the flashforward includes a character being interviewed by police, after finding the dead body of an unseen individual on the street.
Kate said: “We understand what’s happened, we understand the context of what’s happened, but we don’t know who it’s happened to. We don’t know is who it is because a lot of those potential victims create a lot of waves in the Street. So we won’t know who it is, but we will absolutely explore the list.”
It hasn’t been revealed who on the Street will be in danger(Image: PA)
It comes after an already dramatic start to 2026 in soapland as Corrie and Emmerdale joined forces for an epic crossover episode, dubbed Corriedale, which left lives in danger and has cast a wave of grief, concern and secrets across both Weatherfield and the Dales.
The episode, aired to mark the change to the network’s soap schedule, revealed that the crash was caused by killer John Sugden and Becky Swain as the pair collided while driving on a country road, sealing the exit storyline of vicar Billy Mayhew, who died after being trapped in a minibus which went up in flames.
But there were plenty of other jaw-dropping moments included in the TV epic, with Cain Dingle shot by John, before later being given a life-changing diagnosis in the hospital, while Shona went into labour as her husband David suffered a fit in the hospital.
It’s now been revealed that the explosive collision of Coronation Street and Emmerdale in the landmark Corriedale event was a massive hit with fans, peaking with 4.7 million viewers, averaging 4.2million viewers across the hour.
The impressive live overnight audience figures are the highest live TV ratings for a soap in over a year, and the biggest TV peak audience for a soap since 2022 (outside of Christmas Day episodes). Corriedale is the highest live TV audience for any drama across any broadcaster or streamer since Call the Midwife in February 2025, and ITV’s highest TV audience since I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!