Coronation Street spoilers follow from Friday’s episode (30 January), which is available to watch now on ITVX and YouTube but hasn’t yet aired on ITV1.
Coronation Street’s Bernie Winter-Alahan is left mortified tonight as she finds out that her drug secret is already under threat. With Ryan Connor unable to keep quiet about what he saw at the Chariot Square Hotel, he decides to give Bernie’s daughter Gemma a discreet warning.
Bernie headed down a dark path last night as she bought pills to share with newcomer Mal Roper – a stranger that she’d only just met. The two characters bonded over tough times in their lives, but hotel employee Ryan found out what was going on when he burst into Mal’s room to investigate a noise complaint.
In tonight’s episode, Bernie’s loved ones are frantic with worry as she has spent the night away from the cobbles and nobody seems to know where she is.
Bernie eventually resurfaces and plays down her disappearing act, but by this point, Ryan has already told Gemma everything.
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Confronting Bernie during a moment alone at the Alahan house, Gemma reveals: “Ryan said he saw you at the Chariot Square Hotel last night. In a hotel room with some druggie fella. What’s really going on, mam?”
Bernie shuts down Gemma’s questions, refusing to give anything away. However, she later realises that she stands a better chance of securing Gemma’s silence if she’s honest with her.
“I had a nibble on a pill – is that okay?” Bernie asks. “It doesn’t matter who I was with. I had a bit of a wobble, okay? Most of the time, I think I’m dealing with everything, but with Billy passing, it all got too much.
“I miss Paul. Most of the time I can handle it, but every now and then, I can’t cope.”
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While Gemma understands, she also warns that the late Paul would be horrified if he knew that Bernie had turned back to “drugs and dodgy men”.
Bernie gets a lifeline when Gemma agrees to keep her secret, but with Mal sticking around on the cobbles to carry out a job at Roy Cropper’s café, is it only a matter of time before Bernie’s husband Dev finds out what’s been going on?
Coronation Street’s producer Kate Brooks previously told us: “We take Bernie on a really interesting journey as she struggles. It gets to the point where, because it’s been bubbling for such a long time, it eventually erupts.
“When it does, there are consequences for Bernie. It’s not as straightforward as Dev sweeping in and making sure that everything’s okay. 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.”
For more on issues with drugs and drug dependency, including information and support, please visit FRANK or Action on Addiction.
Coronation Street airs on weeknights at 8.30pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.
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