Coronation Street star Calum Lill has revealed what's next for his character after he admitted it was 'difficult' to keep the latest twist in the Lauren Bolton storyline a secret.
It's been a big week in the ITV soap as viewers eagerly awaited the reveal of who was really behind the teen's disappearance - and suspected murder. Lauren was last seen on the cobbles on February 23 after being sacked from her job at Roy's Rolls by Roy. The café owner later visited her with her wages and some extra cash to tide her over.
But soon after, the teen was visited at home by a mystery person, who viewers never got to see, and she hasn't been seen since. Roy was imprisoned awaiting trial after being charged for Lauren's murder after blood was found in her flat.
However, weeks on and on Thursday night (May 30), after previous episodes showed the same day from different characters' perspective, Roy was released from prison and the truth was finally revealed.
While the recently returned Nathan Curtis was charged with Lauren's murder after newcomer Kit Green planted evidence in his van, his solicitor Joel Deering was looking pretty shifty. And he had good reason to be as he may have gotten away with murder.
As he returned to the street, he made a swift exit from Roy's homecoming and was met by Hope Stape who handed Joel a necklace that she found in his car when cleaning it. A flashback clip then revealed him to be Lauren's secret 'boyfriend' and him brutally attacking her.
Following the scenes actor Calum, who joined Corrie last year as fellow solicitor Dee-Dee Bailey's love interest, shared the difficulty about keeping his character's involvement in the storyline a secret for a year.
Confirming how long he's known about Joel's shocking behaviour, the soap star said: "In my first meeting with the producer he said that they had already storyboarded it month by month, obviously parts of it can change but the arc of the story spanned the year and a lot of detail had been decided which is rare."
And it's not just viewers who the secret has been kept from as Calum's also not been able to tell his family who are Corrie fans - particularly his Grandmother. "It has been difficult - even my family don’t know, they will have found out at the same time as the viewers," the soap star shared.
"I don’t think they were suspicious as they probably didn't think I could play an evil character like Joel. I was having Sunday dinner with my family a couple of weeks ago, and they were all talking about their own theories of who they think it is. And every one of them has got a different one and not one of them thinks it is Joel. They have not been suspicious of me at all. They were aware that some people were suspicious online but believed me!"
Revealing what is next for the character, Calum said: "I think he's trying to work out how many loose ends there could be and how to deal with them. Obviously as a defence solicitor he knows how to play the game and knows that there is reasonable doubt and that he needs to cancel out anything that could be tied down to him.
"But you know, this is new territory for him. He might have been in a situation before where he's broken the law and not treated people very nicely. But this is new and I think he feels real concern. He has to make it stick on Nathan so no one ever suspects it could be Joel."
Detailing a bit more about what has made Joel the way he is, Calum admitted: "He is very messed up, he sees women in two ways; he has these women he adores and puts on a pedestal like Dee-Dee and then there are the other women, the young girls that he sees as lesser in some way in his eyes and takes his hatred for women out on them.
"When he sees these vulnerable young women probably from broken homes, with criminal records and no one looking out for them he is like a shark he hones in on them, coercively controls them and emotionally manipulates them using his power and money. If you were to sit down and try and ask him why he did it he would justify it as just helping them.
"When no one else would. It is a repetitive pattern of behaviour, he engages with these young girls and afterwards there is the element of guilt so he tries to be a good person and be better towards Dee-Dee. Then the guilt wears off and he needs another ‘fix’, he has a euphoria/guilt cycle. It is a pattern of destructive behaviour. And we will see in the coming weeks that he is still doing it."
