Barlow back from brink
Hammer attack victim Charlotte Hoyle became the third fatality of the Coronation Street carnage this week – but Peter Barlow is back from the brink.
Viewers saw Charlotte Hoyle (Becky Hindley) being bludgeoned at the start of the 50th anniversary week but she managed to cling on to life.
However her attacker John Stape (Graeme Hawley) had a hand in ensuring her life support machine was switched off to cover his tracks.
Fans were left with a cliff-hanger when Peter (Chris Gascoyne) flatlined in his hospital bed during Thursday’s live episode – moments after he married.
But in last night’s instalment he was brought back from the brink of death, although his condition remains critical.
And to complicate matters, loved ones at his bedside clashed bitterly when Carla Connor (Alison King) revealed her love for Leanne’s new husband.
The tram crash disaster – which has unfolded throughout the week – has been pulling in huge audiences for the show.
Thursday night’s seamless live broadcast drew the biggest audience for almost seven years, with nearly 15 million tuning in at one stage.
Already this week viewers have seen Ashley Peacock (Steven Arnold) and Molly Dobbs (Vicky Binns) perish in the catastrophe. Many characters have been trapped for hours in the rubble in the aftermath of the crash, when a tram plummeted from the collapsed viaduct.
In last night’s episode viewers also saw a huge showdown when Sally Webster (Sally Dynevor) confronted unfaithful husband Kevin (Michael Le Vell) about Molly’s dying confession – that he was the father of her baby Jack.
In another storyline, frantic John left his premature baby Hope to finish Charlotte off at the hospital, but battled with his emotions as he prepared to pull the plug on her life support.
But when her parents arrived and suggested turning off the machines themselves, he urged them to let her go.
Viewers at last saw Corrie favourite Rita Sullivan (Barbara Knox) rescued from the ruins of The Kabin when Nick Tilsley (Ben Price) remembered she had gone into the shop.
And, after stealing from the open safe in the destroyed Corner Shop, guilt-stricken Becky McDonald (Katherine Kelly) called wayward sister Kylie Turner (Paula Lane) to inform her she had the money to buy back her nephew Max.
The episode ended a week of special programming to mark the soap’s milestone. Cast and crew celebrated their efforts with a black tie dinner last night.
