Lauren Bolton’s nail-biting disappearance in Coronation Street has kept ITV viewers on the edge of their seats for months with the real culprit still freely roaming the cobbles. Duty solicitor Joel Deering, portrayed by Calum Lill , is hiding out in plain sight, feigning to help Nathan Curtis ( Christopher Harper ) as the villain - another known danger to women in Weatherfield - is set to go down for Lauren’s supposed murder. Meanwhile, Roy Cropper ( David Neilson ) is attempting to return to a normal life after being thrown behind bars, wrongly accused for several weeks of killing Lauren himself.
Carla Connor, Nina Lucas and Bobby Crawford have fought tooth and nail for the beloved cafe owner, vehemently insisting he was innocent all along. But behind the theatrics the long-running soap is known for, a bleak, hard-hitting message about the judicial system, meant to protect and defend those in need, shines through like a badge of shame. The teen’s disappearance has thrown viewers down Memory Lane as it revisited Bethany Platt’s own grooming and sexual assault ordeal at the hands of Nathan Curtis.
At the time, a 16-year-old Bethany was adamant on making her romance with a then-35-year-old Nathan work, despite her mother Sarah’s reluctance to accept them as a couple. Bethany was eventually saved within inches of disaster as her family continued their efforts to make her see sense - a privilege Lauren was never given. Thrown between her far-right extremist father Reece.
