Carla Connor (Alison King) has been incredibly patient on Coronation Street, after fiancée Lisa Swain (Vicky Myers)’s undead wife Becky Swain (Amy Cudden) swanned back into their lives.
Lisa had finally realised it was time to move on from holding on to her grief for her late wife and embrace her future with Carla.
The couple had moved into a new home and had started to settle into being a family, along with Lisa’s daughter Betsy (Sydney Martin) and Carla’s nephew Ryan (Ryan Prescott).
A happy ever after for the couple – apart from the occasional row about the recycling with neighbour David Platt (Jack P Shepherd) – seemed to be on the horizon.
And then in walked Becky Swain, Lisa’s not-so-dead wife.
There’d always been a mystery around her death which Lisa had tried to get to the bottom of. Also a police officer, she was being investigated for corruption, and died in a hit and run while chasing a suspect. Her funeral was apparently very low key, without the honour and ceremony that a serving policer officer’s funeral would normally involve.
In other words, it was all very fishy.
And, as it turned out, all very much a cover up.
All the time Lisa and Betsy have been grieving, Becky has been holed away abroad, pretending to be dead to avoid Bad People who would have done Bad Things to her and her family.
For Lisa, of course, this has been shattering. Her world has literally been upended and if Becky was hoping for wide open arms and a welcome back into the family she hasn’t had it from Lisa, who is basically fuming. Betsy has also been in turmoil but is mainly delighted that her mum is back.
Carla is in a terrible position. Knowing how deeply Lisa loved Becky when they were together and how much she grieved for her, suddenly having her back in their lives has been unsettling, to say the least. Carla wants to hope her place in Lisa’s heart and future is safe, but with Becky back she can’t avoid feeling insecure.
In upcoming episodes, Betsy invites Becky for lunch and Carla tries to put a brave face on it for Betsy’s sake. But when Becky helps herself to a forkful of food from Lisa’s plate, Carla is irritated by the small act of intimacy.
Becky explains that she just wants some normality, and Carla rages. She says it’s quite obvious that what Becky is hoping for is not ‘normality.’ She tells Lisa and Becky that they’re both deluded and storms out.
She heads straight for the police station, where she tells Kit (Jacob Roberts) she doesn’t believe Becky’s story and thinks there’s something else going on.
Is she right? And will Kit help her get to the bottom of what’s really going on?
