Coronation Street fans have predicted a double exit could be on the cards ahead of the world’s longest-running TV soap airing special flash forward scenes
21:00, 27 Jan 2026Updated 21:02, 27 Jan 2026
Debbie tried to pay for Billy’s funeral(Image: ITV)
Coronation Street fans have predicted a double exit could be on the cards. The world’s longest-running TV soap aired a historic crossover episode with fellow serial Emmerdale to kick off the year which saw vicar Billy Mayhew (Daniel Brocklebank) killed off after 11 years in Weatherfield.
In the storyline, residents of the Manchester backstreet had ended up in a car crash on a dark country road and Theo Silverton (James Cartwright) ruthlessly trapped Billy in the vehicle, leaving him to die in the explosion. Prior to his tragic death, Billy had worked out that Theo was abusing partner Todd behind closed doors and had tried to help. Dementia-stricken Debbie Webster (Sue Devaney) was in the passenger seat with her drunken son Carl, who still believes they are brother and sister, and he moved her into the driving seat when she was out cold.
Having now taken the blame for the crash, Debbie is facing time in prison and on Tuesday’s edition of the soap, she tried to offer Billy’s best friend Todd Grimshaw thousands of pounds for the funeral But it was then that Todd’s partner Theo stormed over to the pair and told Debbie: “That money is dripping in blood, Billy’s blood, and I tell you what, we’d rather leave him out for the binmen than take a penny from you!” Carl then walked over and Todd had to put a stop to them fighting in the street.
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Theo burst into tears as he sat by Billy’s coffin(Image: ITV)
Later on, in Roy’s Rolls, Theo was on the verge of tears as he confessed to the bishop that he “blames himself” for the death of Billy – but didn’t quite tell him the whole truth. He said: “I blame myself for Billy’s death. I should’ve got him out. And when I see Todd and Summer in bits, it breaks my heart. The choices I made that night left him trapped, Father.”
The bishop then urged Theo to “make peace” with himself by praying. George Shuttleworth was left short when Todd went home for the afternoon, so asked Theo to keep an eye on the premises whilst he popped out to run a quick errand, meaning Theo was left all alone with Billy in the funeral parlour.
Standing over Billy’s coffin, Theo said: “Please believe me when I say I’m sorry, Billy. It was a moment of madness leaving you there and I don’t think I will ever forgive myself. I’m so sorry.”
Through tears, Billy continued: “I’m not an evil man. I’m not a killer. I’m just a bloke who loves his partner too much, maybe. I don’t know, maybe to let anyone or anything get in the way. I don’t know but I’m sorry. I just hope you’re at peace and that you can understand that-” It was then that Theo heard the door opening, and thought George had come back.
Racing out onto the street, Theo wondered what the noise was and, there, lurking in an alleyway on the other side was Carl, with the look in his face implying that he had heard every word. Of course, viewers will know that Carl carried out a string of dodgy deals at his brother Kevin’s garage last year, and drove a stolen car that ended up putting Tyrone Dobbs in a wheelchair.
Kevin has since worked this out, and has also worked that Debbie couldn’t possibly have caused the crash, so viewers think that both of them could face a downfall for their actions as the story plays out. One fan wrote on Reddit: “It seems like Carl is onto Theo now at the end of the episode, he knows Theo murdered Billy, but what is he going to do with this information?
It looked like Carl Webster had overheard Theo’s confession(Image: ITV)
“Is he going to try to blackmail Theo with it or something to try and keep Debbie out of prison, or will he use it to try and make it out that Theo is the guilty one and not himself for crashing into the minibus if he gets found out? Well they’re both villains, unless Carl has some sort of redemption, him and Theo are going down by the end of this surely.”
Another wrote: “I think Carl will try to blackmail Theo and then Theo will take money off Todd! I dislike both but Carl will earn points for me if he takes down Theo.”
It comes just weeks before a character’s body will be found by another character, which will spark a murder mystery. But in a first for the programme, which has made increasing extensive use of non-linear storytelling in recent times despite it never having been a regular feature of the soap throughout its 65-year history, it will all be revealed as part of a flashforward twist.
In this not-so-distant future, the body is found, while their identity is not confirmed. It won’t be until months later that we see the actual death in present day, and the victim is identified.
Speaking to The Mirror, Corrie boss Kate Brooks revealed: “We’ve got a special episode coming up mid-February, and in that episode, we are doing a little bit of a flash-forward.
“This is something that’s been in the making for a really long time, and it gives us a destination for some big stories, for them to all come together and be involved in a much bigger, bigger storyline. Essentially, during the course of our flash forward episode, we discover that one of our characters has found a dead body on the street, and we don’t know who it is.
“There are five potential victims and we’ll take the audience on a journey for them to try and figure out who that body is, what happened, what’s the backstory to it and how did they get to that place? Why did that person die and when did they die?
“Obviously this will be quite an intriguing story. It’s our big thriller-esque story as we go into spring, early summer. It will involve an awful lot of the community. I don’t think I’ve ever told a story that involves quite as many character groups.
“Everyone’s impacted, everyone’s affected by the story, and there are so many twists and so many turns. It’s been a real challenge in some ways, because it is so complex and intricate. But it’s so exciting, and just when we think that the story’s going in one direction, we absolutely do a U-turn and go into a completely different direction.
“It’ll keep people guessing until the very end, and don’t be fooled by what you think is happening, because that might not be the case. It’s a few months [into the future].” It’s thought the reveal of who is dead will spark a whodunnit to follow.”
Coronation Street airs weeknights at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITV X. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .