With the Coronation Street and Emmerdale crossover on the horizon, fans think they’ve solved a major mystery.
Weeks after Corrie revealed that fan favourite, Roy Cropper (David Neilson), had been corresponding with prisoners as part of a pen pal scheme, fans have become convinced that his storyline could be linked to Emmerdale’s Samson Dingle (Sam Hall), who was jailed last year.
Following Monday’s (1 December) episode of Coronation Street, which saw Roy’s niece, Nina Lucas (Mollie Gallagher) and her friend, Shona Platt (Julia Goulding), learn that Roy had been writing to a woman named Alice, whose son is in prison, fans have speculated that ‘Alice’ refers to Samson’s late mother, Alice Dingle (Ursula Holden-Gill), who was killed off in 2006. As a result, viewers are wondering if someone could be using her name as part of a ruse.
Admitting that he’d formed a “strong bond” with the mysterious Alice this week, Roy told Nina and Shona: “She wrote to thank me for communicating with her son. And we continued to exchange letters. We discovered that we had certain things in common, and then today, a further letter arrived. The further letter has distinctly romantic undertones. It’s completely knocked me for six.”
Theorising on Reddit, one noted, “Roy is writing to the mother of someone with a child in prison! I’ve just caught up on last night’s Corrie. It seems as though the mum’s name is Alice. As in Samson’s dead mum?? What is going on!”
ITV
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“Wondering if the prison pen pal Roy Cropper apparently has is Samson, as he’s the only recent Emmerdale character I can think of in prison?” mused a second.
Echoing this sentiment, a third reflected: “On Coronation Street, it’s been revealed that Roy is writing to ‘some lad’ in prison, and that the boy’s mother got in touch to say thank you, leading to them becoming pen pals, too. So I think (pure speculation) – he’s writing to Lydia (and Samson).”
ITV
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Meanwhile, a fourth agreed: “Samson & Lydia are a good shout!”
As fans of Emmerdale will remember, Lydia Dingle (Karen Blick) is Samson’s stepmum, and since 2024, the latter has been completing a four-year prison sentence for assaulting his former friend, Josh Cope. Whether Lydia or Samson are somehow involved in Roy’s storyline remains to be seen, but hopefully it won’t be too long a wait until we get answers.
Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.
Read more Coronation Street spoilers on our dedicated homepage
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