Coronation Street aired the first of its explosive flashbacks on Wednesday night, where Ronnie Bailey and Mason Radcliffe appeared to be possibly guilty of the crime – but fans aren’t convinced
Coronation Street viewers are convinced they’ve rumbled Joel Deering’s real killer and it’s not Ronnie Bailey or Mason Radcliffe.
It was recently revealed that the missing evil solicitor (played by Calum Lill) had been murdered with everyone treated as a suspect on the cobbles.
It was revealed earlier this week that over the coming episodes, a series of dramatic flashbacks will help viewers piece the puzzle together as the ITV soap revisits the night of September 27 when Joel went missing in one of the street’s biggest ever whodunnits.
And, on Wednesday night (16 October), soap watchers saw the first flashbacks take place for characters Ronnie (Vinta Morgan) who is the uncle of Joel’s wronged fiancée Dee-Dee Bailey (Channique Sterling-Brown) and Mason (Luca Toolan) who is the bad boy bully who has seemingly been turning his life around in recent weeks.
During the episode, officer Kit Green (Jacob Roberts) informed DS Lisa Swain (Vicky Myers) that Joel had died from two blows to the head and most likely a crowbar had been used. Later in the episode, DS Swain was stunned to learn from Yasmeen Nazir (Shelley King) that she had kicked Mason out of her home as he had a crowbar.
Things went from bad to worse for the youngster when Kit caught him throwing out the crowbar in question and he was taken to the station for questioning. Kit questioned Mason who admitted he threw out the crowbar after refusing to do a burglary for his brothers and was squatting in Speed Daal alone on the night Joel was killed.
However, in a flashback, it appeared Mason wasn’t quite telling the truth as DS Swain’s daughter, Betsy, visited him where she was in tears and scared that Joel was going to come after her as Mason vowed to protect her.
Meanwhile, later in the episode, Dee-Dee told her uncle Ronnie that the police believe Joel was attacked with a crowbar, leading to Ronnie remembering grabbing one from the builder’s yard on the night in question in a flashback but he continued to keep his cool at the pub and quietly sipped his pint.
Taking to Twitter, now X, viewers are convinced that both Ronnie and Mason’s flashbacks were a red herring and that they had rumbled the ‘real killer’. Soap watchers are worried that fan favourite, DS Swain, could be behind the murder due to her daughter Betsy being targeted by the villain.
One person said: “WHAT IF!! The night of the murder, when Betsie went to Mason because she thought Joel would go to her house, he actually did and it was only Lisa in and that is how she is involved. Oh this is making me feel sick #Corrie”, a different account wrote: “So, Swain has a mystery injury & Joel turns up with a whack over the head #Corrie @itvcorrie” while another added: “I’m praying Lisa is a permanent character, I’m scared now everyone’s saying she’s involved in Joel’s death? Everything’s just got good #Swarla #Corrie.”
Elsewhere, some fans think it could be Joel’s dad Gus Deering. Taking to social media, one person said: “Just had a revelation. I reckon Joel’s dad murdered him. Do you remember Joel telling Lauren how his Dad used to hurt him. Just a thought.” To which a different account replied: “I said dad as well,” another viewer wrote: “I do too!” while another speculated: “…or his mum because he’s fallen off that pedestal and ruined her life?”
Coronation Street continues on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV and ITV X.