Coronation Street fans are still reeling from the big twist that Becky Swain (Amy Cudden) is still alive, and it’s safe to say that her arrival has divided viewers.
While some are excited for all the soapy drama her return will bring, others are concerned by what this could mean for the future of fan-favourite couple Carla Connor (Alison King) and Lisa Swain (Vicky Myers) – AKA Swarla.
Carla and Lisa were just settling into life together, having recently bought a house and got engaged, when Becky gave Lisa the shock of her life.
Viewers will know that Becky supposedly died almost four years ago, when she was mowed down by a getaway car during a robbery.
Now, she is back from the dead and Lisa and Carla will be desperate for answers, with plenty of dramatic scenes ahead.
‘Very much looking forward to these scenes,’ Metro reader and Twitter/X user Emma said, while user ‘act ii’ agreed: ‘I’m team Swarla but this sounds fun. Just delicious soapy drama. Lesbians deserve to get these types of storylines too.’
Ceri was not quite so thrilled, writing, ‘i genuinely feel sick, can’t get over it’, while Kaylee added: ‘it’s gonna be so awful to see swain actually torn and conflicted. i already want this storyline to end.’
Other fans didn’t know what to think, with Erin ‘stuck between laughing hysterically and crying’, and Olive ‘in a shambles’.
However you feel about the decision to resurrect Becky, it is something that has clearly been a long time in the making. In fact, there have been little hints dropped into the story over the course of months.
In case you missed them, I have once again donned my detective hat and compiled a list of all the hints foreshadowing the second coming of Becky Swain.
All the clues that Becky Swain was still alive in Coronation Street
1. ‘Someone just walked over my grave…’
Perhaps the most obvious hint that Becky was going to rise from the dead was the fact that Lisa has had a stalker for the past few episodes.
Someone has been watching the detective sergeant from afar, lurking around corners and giving Lisa a sense that someone had walked over her grave.
The timing of this mystery onlooker narrowed down the possible culprits. Carla and Lisa had just got engaged, Kit Green (Jacob Roberts) was looking into Becky’s murder and DI Costello (Daon Bruni) was doing everything in his power to lead him off the trail.
The most likely person to have been affected by all of these events would have been Becky, and alas – here she is.
2. Did someone say Becky?
We have heard the name ‘Becky’ so many times over the last year and a half that I’m starting to hear it in my sleep. Despite this, she has only appeared on screen twice so far (more on that later).
Usually, when a character in a soap starts being mentioned more regularly, it means that their appearance on screen is imminent. While Becky’s return from the dead took longer than your average soap tease, it was always going to be inevitable.
It’s sort of like the theory of Chekhov’s gun. Chekhov argued that if a gun is seen in act one, then it must go off before the end of the play. Essentially, everything must have a reason for existing in the narrative. It must always push the story forward.
Look at me getting all technical on you.
Getting back on topic, Coronation Street has now given us Chekhov’s Becky, if you will. The mentions of the character have finally paid off, and she is here in the flesh, for better or worse…
3. ‘Til death do us part
Speaking of for better or worse, Carla and Lisa recently got engaged, and lesbians everywhere cheered.
Unfortunately, wlw couples in soap have a terrible track record when it comes to marriage (RIP Rana, you would have loved Swarla), so it was only a matter of time before something came along to potentially ruin things.
Not to mention the fact that Lisa uttered the dreaded phrase, ‘we are indestructible’, last heard in soap coming from the mouth of Emmerdale’s Carl King moments before he was bashed to death with a brick.
We’re hoping that isn’t a metaphor for the future of Swarla’s relationship…
Swarla have already survived a kidney transplant, two kidnappings, Betsy being shot and the horrifically painful experience of sapphic yearning, so Corrie needed to throw in something else that stood a real chance of tearing them apart.
Enter: Becky.
The destruction of Swarla would not be popular with the viewers, as several Metro readers have pointed out…
‘They need to let Carla be happy for once,’ Jamie Pollock demanded on Facebook, while Tina Davies-Swinburne agreed: ‘She best leave carla [and] lisa alone.’
However, others believe that it could be inevitable.
‘Becky was Lisa’s soul mate. Madly in love, , i think they will get back together, betsy will want that, carla never gets her happy ever after, .. why else would they bring becky back in to it,’ Debbie Hopkins pointed out, while Steven Newton warned: ‘[There’s] a feeling she could get back with Lisa Carla better watch out I think.’
4. Someone call AC-12
You don’t need to be Martin Compston or Vicky McClure in Line of Duty to work out that someone in Weatherfield nick is dodgy. Seriously, AC-12 (That’s IAB for you Law & Order fans) would have an absolute field day over there.
In recent scenes, it was DI Costello who came out looking the worst, after attempting to shut down Kit’s attempts at investigating Becky’s murder.
He even went so far as to pay someone to pretend to be Tia Wardley in order to throw Kit and Lisa off the scent.
What he’s hiding exactly remains to be seen, but it was certainly a clue that he knew the truth about Becky’s disappearance, and possibly even had something to do with it…
‘I bet that’s why costello looks shifty, he knows Becky’s alive,’ Metro reader Deb Rhatigan theorised, and we’re tempted to agree.
5. No body, no crime
Circling back to soap tactics, we all know the golden rule. Say it with me:
If we didn’t see the body, they aren’t really dead.
Given that Becky was ‘killed’ before Lisa became a regular character, and certainly before anyone had heard of Betsy Swain, we can be forgiven for not immediately applying this rule.
But it still stands – without a body, there is every possibility that the ‘dead’ character can just waltz back into their family’s lives ready to blow it all apart, a la Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) in EastEnders.
Therefore, there was always a chance that Becky would come striding back into Lisa and Betsy’s life, no matter the consequences.
6. A worthy send-off
Following Craig Tinker’s memorial service after his death on duty, Lisa opened up to Carla about how Becky had been under investigation for corruption at the time of her death and therefore wasn’t given the hero’s send-off Lisa believed she deserved.
In hindsight, could this have been a hint that Becky wasn’t dead at all? After all, you can’t have a funeral for someone who isn’t really dead…
7. Roy’s new friend
Prior to Becky coming face-to-face with Lisa, she appeared on screen once before.
Told you we’d come back to it.
Last week, when Roy was at the hospital for his bad back, he actually bumped into Becky and shared a short conversation with her, during which she made reference to her shoes making her ‘quiet as a mouse’. Perfect for sneaking around in, some would say.
Last night, ahead of the bombshell moment of her big reveal, Roy became uncomfortable when looking at a family photo of the Swains, before later revealing that he needed to tell Carla that he’d seen someone he definitely shouldn’t have.
In hindsight, the whole episode was leading up to that climax moment, but you’d be forgiven for not catching on, given the rest of the drama going down.
8. Selfie time
When Lucy Fallon announced her return to the role of Bethany Platt after her maternity leave, she marked the occasion with a cheeky selfie in the dressing room at Corrie.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that this is completely irrelevant to the topic at hand, but stay with me.
Above the mirror, her name was printed on a piece of paper. Now, with fans constantly looking for any hints they can find for what is ahead, they wasted no time in zooming in on the reflection of the dressing table behind her.
Lo and behold, it had the name Amy Cudden above it.
We now know that this is the actress who plays Becky, and this accidental slip from Lucy was yet another clue to add to our list.
9. Papa-Paparazzi
Eagle-eyed Corrie fans don’t miss anything, so when a collection of behind the scenes pictures of Vicky Myers and Alison King filming emotional scenes were obtained by Metro, readers were quick to spot a possible third actor in the scenes.
Always coming up with possible answers, the fans rushed to social media to speculate that Becky had returned from the dead.
With another collection of pictures from the same day having dropped this morning confirming that actress Amy Cudden is the woman in the background of the shots, it’s clear these viewers are good at spotting upcoming soap twists!
Did you catch on to any of these clues, or was Becky’s return a complete surprise to you?
