Coronation Street fans ‘work out’ who Joel’s next victim will be – and it’s not Bethany

Coronation Street fans believe they have worked out who Joel Deering’s (Calum Lill) next victim will be – and it’s not Bethany Platt (Lucy Fallon).

Earlier this week, ITV fans learnt that the solicitor was Lauren Bolton’s (Cait Fitton) mysterious boyfriend and is responsible for her disappearance. The cunning legal advisor has pushed the suspicion onto Bethany’s former abuser Nathan Curtis (Chris Harper) who has been arrested in connection with the teen’s apparent death.

During Friday’s visit (May 31) to the cobbles, Bethany was determined to make sure Nathan was imprisoned for good by doing her own investigating. It comes after her mum Sarah Barlow (Tina O’Brien) was caught planting evidence in his van.

Despite being caught red-handed by DC Kit Green (Jacob Roberts), viewers later saw the corrupt copper planting his own forged evidence in the vehicle which he used to arrest Nathan. Meanwhile, at the jail, Nathan tried to convince Joel that Sarah planted the incriminating hair strands in his van.

But Joel wasn’t listening to any of it, instead warning: “The chances are, you’re going to be found guilty. If you want my advice, I’d give serious consideration to a guilty plea.”

Determined to keep Nathan behind bars for the right reasons, Bethany then reached out to Ellie who worked with sex worker Nicky Wheatley (Kimberly Hart-Simpson). She reassured her: “Nathan is in prison so she doesn’t have to be scared anymore.”

Ellie agreed to tell Bethany everything about the man who attacked her, and when Bethany showed her the photo of Natan, she confirmed it was him. But once Bethany left the flat, it was revealed that Joel has been listening to the whole thing.

As he watched Bethany drive away from the property, he handed some cash to Ellie for lying as he ominously said: “Bye-bye Bethany.” Although Bethany seems like a likely target for Joel, given her determination to find out what happened to Lauren, another resident could be at risk of becoming his next victim.

After the gripping episode, fans have got an insight into the extreme lengths he is going to in order to keep his crime a secret. Now viewers are concerned that Dee-Dee could be at risk due to how close she is to the evil killer.

Taking to X – formerly known as Twitter – viewers have shared their concern for the brunette beauty online. One user begged: “Dee-Dee keep away from him [scared emoji] Joel isn’t the man you think he is #Corrie.”

Another suggested: “Dee-Dee needs to run fast” as a third echoed: “Keep Joel away from Dee-Dee now! #corrie.” A fourth chimed in with: Protect Dee-Dee Bailey at all costs [two heartbroken emojis, two crying emojis].”

Speaking about what’s to come, Calum teased what his character’s next steps will be. He 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.”