Carl Webster (Jonathan Howard) continues to plumb new depths of unpleasantness in upcoming Coronation Street episodes as he uses his sister Debbie Webster (Sue Devaney)’s dementia as a way to get access to the hotel’s money.
We’ve seen previously that Carl is ruthless enough to manipulate Debbie in this way. When she got too close to uncovering his affair with his sister-in-law Abi (Sally Carman) after finding Abi in possession of a hotel key, Carl made out that it was Debbie’s dementia causing her to forget that Abi had stayed at the hotel previously.
Debbie isn’t able to push back against this sort of manoeuvre, because she does sometimes forget things and get confused – which is why it’s so cruel of Carl to make her think that things are even worse than she thought.
Carl finds himself in a tight spot currently. He and Abi have both been sacked from the garage by Kevin (Michael Le Vell), and Carl found himself reluctantly sharing his hotel room with his girlfriend and her young son.
This would have been difficult enough if Carl was as much in love with Abi as she thinks he is, but he so isn’t. He couldn’t wait to bin Abi and Alfie off to live with Roy Cropper (David Neilson) so he could have his personal space back.
Having room 101 to himself again will also come in handy when James Bailey (Jason Callender) assures him that he still cares about him, despite everything that’s gone on and it looks like their ‘sexy scenes’ are back on.
Carl is unnerved, however, when he thinks that Debbie has overheard this conversation.
To cover his tracks, he tells Kevin that he’s like to make amends with him for Debbie’s sake as her dementia is obviously getting worse.
Debbie has been trusting Carl to help her at the hotel, and she tells him that she wants him to be more involved.
He senses an opportunity, but when she says she’ll be looking after the money side of things it seems he’s missed his chance.
If only he could get his sister away from the hotel…
He tries to convince Debbie that what she really needs is a holiday. She’s quite interested in the idea but won’t commit to making a booking. While she’s still trying to decide she gets called away and leaves Carl with her phone – and he completes the booking on her behalf.
Of course Debbie can’t remember making the booking – because she didn’t – and she’s rattled to get an email confirming her holiday.
She wants to cancel, but Carl tells her it’s non-refundable. And he suggests she made the booking by mistake because of her dementia.
Debbie is devastated that she’s made such a huge mistake, but lovely Ronnie (Vinta Morgan) reassures her that a holiday is exactly what they need.
Buoyed up, she starts to plan for her trip, and so does Carl – by requesting access to the hotel bank account so he can pay bills while she’s away.
Is Carl about to add to his crimes by stealing from his own sister?
