Joel terrified by new Lauren development as time officially runs out in Coronation Street
A paranoid Joel Deering (Calum Lill) realises his secret is close to being exposed this week in Coronation Street as Dee-Dee Bailey (Channique Sterling-Brown) and Bethany Platt (Lucy Fallon) work to try and find Lauren Bolton (Cait Fitton).
Lauren’s whereabouts was confirmed last week. In an episode that allowed us to learn more about her toxic relationship with Joel, it was also revealed Lauren is pregnant with his baby.
We discovered Joel had been manipulating Lauren ever since their first meeting in September last year. For months Joel would give Lauren money so she could buy things like food and electricity, but would also expect sex in return.
In February of this year, right before Lauren disappeared, she threatened to report Joel to the police. As soon as Dee-Dee’s name was mentioned in the showdown, Joel turned and he proceeded to attack Lauren with a chair leg.
After Roy’s (David Neilson) heart attack last week, Lauren made her way to the hospital so she could apologise for not coming forward and clearing his name sooner.
In upcoming episodes, Dee-Dee and Nina (Mollie Gallagher) are shocked when the nurse confirms Roy’s visitor was a young woman with blonde hair. Unaware of what’s going on, Dee-Dee later tells Bethany and Joel that the police are checking CCTV, just in case it was Lauren.
In the week, Joel tells Dee-Dee that he’s booked their wedding for September 27 before heading off to go through credit card statements with Bethany, thinking they’ll be able to find clues of Lauren’s whereabouts.
When Joel then receives a text from Betsy (Sydney Martin) demanding more money, he heads out, telling Dee-Dee that he’s off to work.
Continuing to go through the statements, Dee-Dee finds ticket transactions in Warrington and decides to check soup kitchens. There, a homeless woman confirms that Lauren is squatting in a local pub.
In this new video, we see Joel in the car talking to Betsy. He then receives a phone call from Dee-Dee and instructs the young girl to keep quiet.
As Dee-Dee updates Joel and reveals Lauren is apparently pregnant, his paranoia reaches new heights when she confirms her and Bethany are heading to a pub that Lauren has been squatting in.
Dee-Dee is confident she needs to get to the pub before Lauren runs off again, but will Joel get there first before his secret is exposed?
Before the clip ends, he’s seen shouting at Betsy, forcing her to get out of the car. As he speeds away, Betsy is left all alone in an unknown part of town.
Given Lauren is back in Weatherfield and a loose cannon, this in turn will make Joel more dangerous than ever, as the Calum explained in our exclusive video chat recently.
‘One thing we definitely know from this is that he is very selfish,’ he pondered. ‘He puts his own self-interest above all else, and he seems to lack the empathy that regular people have.
‘So, when you add all of them together, I don’t think we’ve seen the worst of him yet. And who knows where that’s going to go?’
