Coronation Street spoilers follow.
Coronation Street’s Sam Blakeman has been going down a dark path to cope with Megan Walsh’s manipulation in new scenes.
The ITV soap has seen Sam resorting to desperate measures after Megan made him question his capabilities to handle schoolwork. Megan’s plan is part of a bigger scheme to exert control over Sam, who’s the only one who realised she’s been grooming Will Driscoll.
In today’s episode, Megan once again threw her boyfriend Daniel Osborne off the scent after he caught her chatting with Will. The teen had bought a rugby jersey for their unborn baby, with Megan immediately shoving it in her bag before Daniel could see.
Later at the cafe, Daniel quizzed her about her conversation with Will, which Megan dismissed as “typical teenage boy stuff”.
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Seeing that Sam was looking over at them, Megan seized the opportunity to swiftly divert Daniel’s attention.
“He’s been acting really weird around me recently,” she said of Sam. “He can’t stand me.”
Megan said she’d offered to help Sam as he was struggling with his schoolwork, but he refused. Viewers know that Megan is responsible for stealing Sam’s essay from Daniel’s pile, resulting in the normally studious boy’s grades slipping.
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Daniel suggested he could talk to his student, but Megan said she would “cope” with him. Finally, Sam walked over to their table to say hi, with a puzzled Daniel describing the interaction as “perfectly civil”, though Megan hurriedly said Sam’s politeness was “performative”.
At the bistro, Sam was on edge as a schoolmate came over to deliver him some Ritalin tabs. Making sure his dad Nick wouldn’t see him, Sam quickly swallowed one.
ITV
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Megan’s ploy to tarnish model student Sam’s reputation continues, with Corrie producer Kate Brooks teasing it will have a “massively detrimental” impact on the teen’s mental health.
“[Sam] potentially gets wind that something’s amiss,” Brooks said. “We will see the lengths that Megan will go to in order to manipulate Sam and to keep him quiet, and it will be massively detrimental to Sam’s wellbeing.”
Coronation Street has worked on Will and Megan’s grooming storyline with support from Barnardo’s. Support and information is available via the charity’s website.
For more on drug addiction and 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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