Coronation Street spoilers follow.
Coronation Street has teased a huge new death storyline, set to begin this spring in a special flashforward episode. The scenes will open with one Weatherfield resident being questioned by police after discovering a dead body, before revealing five characters who could potentially be the victim.
Producer Kate Brooks has strongly hinted that it will be a villain who meets their maker, revealing that the character in question has “created a lot of waves in the street” by the time they’re killed. Viewers, however, will be kept guessing throughout spring as the mystery unfolds.
But with suspicion falling in multiple directions, the big question is: which Corrie character will lose their life? Here are our current suspects…
Carl Webster
ITV
Top of our list – it’s the callous Carl Webster. Carl’s enemies on the cobbles are stacking up thanks to his affair with Abi and his cruel treatment of Debbie, who is living with dementia. He was also responsible for Tyrone’s devastating injuries last year.
More recently (and perhaps more crucially), he was among those to blame for the multi-vehicle pile-up in the Corriedale special that claimed the life of Billy Mayhew, although he’s now letting Debbie take the blame.
As he continues to hide his guilt over this, the scheming Carl now knows Theo’s own dark secret over the tragedy too. When Theo discovered what Carl knew, he turned the tables and threatened him if he were ever to reveal the truth.
So if the mystery does hinge on a character who has been upsetting everyone on the cobbles, it’s not surprising that Carl is right up there as the most likely candidate, if a little obvious.
Theo Silverton
ITV
Of course, Carl isn’t the only Weatherfield villain who we are keeping a close eye on.
Viewers have been watching in horror as Theo has spent the past few months emotionally and physically abusing his fiancé Todd Grimshaw. The scheming scaffolder then left poor Billy to die in the Corriedale crash, wanting to silence him forever after the vicar discovered the truth about Todd’s ordeal.
While show bosses have recently promised that there is hope for Todd in future episodes, as other characters will soon start to realise that something is wrong, Theo is still firmly in the running for getting his deathly comeuppance.
Megan Walsh
ITV
The manipulative Megan Walsh is another possible contender, with her dark storyline one to watch over the coming months.
Athletics coach Megan is currently grooming schoolboy Will Driscoll and has recently discovered that she is pregnant with his baby.
Megan has also recently begun a cruel scheme against Sam Blakeman, after he discovered her inappropriate relationship with Will, and she is still dating an oblivious Daniel Osbourne as well.
With Megan’s lies mounting, and bosses promising that the flashforward story will have “many twists and so many turns”, this one certainly seems to fit the bill. But fans will have to keep watching to see if she ends up being the murder victim or not.
Maggie Driscoll 
ITV
Before Maggie joined the show, Corrie bosses promised us that she’d be ruffling a few feathers, and the Driscoll matriarch has certainly done that. But could she eventually end up crossing one person too many?
Maggie has sparked row after row since moving into The Rovers with her family last year, and has also caused quite a stir amongst fans.
Although Maggie recently promised to stop causing quite so much trouble after learning that her son Ben had heart problems, which could have been sparked by stress, she struggled to stick to her word and is currently still holding grudges with both Eva and Leanne.
Maggie is clearly a ticking timebomb and all eyes will now be on her over the next few months.
Becky Swain
ITV
Swarla fans might be hoping we’ve seen the last of the scheming Becky Swain, but could a twist in the tale mean that she meets an even more definitive end?
Becky got her comeuppance when she was sentenced to 12 years in prison for her crimes earlier this month.
Amy Cudden, who played Becky, later confirmed on social media that her recent prison-based scenes were her exit from the soap.
But what if they weren’t? It isn’t completely beyond the realms of possibility that Becky could ultimately end up escaping from prison, and that Amy’s post was all a red herring. It’s something to consider anyway…
Kit Green
ITV
Trouble is never too far away from corrupt copper Kit Green, and it’s for that reason that he’s made his way onto this list.
Fans saw Kit finally come good in the Corriedale special, when he rescued Carla Connor from the shipping container that her nemesis Becky had her locked up in. He further secured himself in Carla and Lisa’s good books by helping to bring down Becky once and for all.
However, there’s still a chance that Kit could end up getting too close to the truth about one of the many cobbles secrets, leading to an untimely end. And we also aren’t convinced he’s completely changed his ways – and neither is Jacob Roberts, who plays him.
“I feel like he’ll always be dodgy!” Jacob said to us. “And I think they should always keep him dodgy.
“But I don’t think he’s turned over a new leaf. I think he could stab Lisa in the back straight away – if he wanted to and if it helped him. I think Kit’s a selfish character, so yeah, 100% he’d do it!”
Jodie Ramsey
ITV
Corrie’s mysterious newcomer Jodie Ramsey has been raising suspicions ever since she arrived on the cobbles earlier this month.
Jodie, played by Olivia Frances-Brown, was introduced during the dramatic Corriedale episode, and it was later confirmed that she is the estranged sister of Shona Platt.
The shock reveals immediately put her at the centre of a huge new storyline for the Platts – and viewers will continue to question what her true intentions are in future episodes.
With Jodie clearly keeping multiple secrets and lying about her past, it’s not really a surprise that she’s made her way onto this list.
But with so many twists and turns to come, it’s anyone’s guess as to why she could end up meeting a grisly end.
Brody Michaelis
ITV
Trouble seems to follow Brody around, and we’re not ruling him out of the running here, either.
Brody is sadly known for making some poor choices – stealing cars for Carl, derailing Dev and Bernie’s wedding day, and dragging Dylan Wilson into trouble.
Could Brody cross the wrong person next time and find himself meeting a fatal end?
Lou Michaelis
ITV
It’s not just Brody who has made his way onto our possible victim list – his mum has too.
It was confirmed earlier this week that Lou Michaelis is set to make a brief return to the cobbles later this year, following her exit last summer.
The controversial character was last seen in July when she was given a prison sentence, after pleading guilty to attacking Gary Windass.
While little else is known about her return yet, Lou being the murder victim might be a bit of a stretch given that she is currently in jail. But stranger things have certainly happened.
Mal Roper
ITV
The ITV soap kicked off a new story for Bernie Winter this week, when she caught the attention of newcomer Mal Roper on a night out.
Bernie has been struggling in the wake of Billy Mayhew’s death but her messy antics with Mal could end up jeopardising her marriage to Dev.
Although Bernie didn’t cheat on Dev, she’s keen to keep him in the dark over what really happened during that fateful night – something which becomes increasingly tricky when Mal insists on sticking around in Weatherfield next week.
Producer Kate Brooks has also promised more twists and turns with this, saying: “It’s a really muddy, murky story that we take her on. I think it just again explores another side of Bernie that we’ve not seen yet.”
Could Bernie end up being responsible if Mal was to meet his maker?
Coronation Street airs on weeknights at 8.30pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.
Read more Coronation Street spoilers on our dedicated homepage
For exclusive soap star interviews, gossip, spoilers and theories every week, don’t miss the Soap Scoop podcast from Inside Soap magazine. The latest episode delves into next week’s soap spoilers, from Moira’s arrest in Emmerdale, to Nigel and Julie’s wedding in EastEnders.