Dee-Dee Bailey (Channique Sterling-Brown) has been left heartbroken after discovering the full extent of fiancé Joel Deering’s (Calum Lill) crimes against Lauren Bolton (Cait Fitton) in Coronation Street.
Last we saw her, alongside DS Lisa Swain (Vicky Myers), edge closer to the truth.
Dee-Dee discovered that he had lied about buying an expensive charm bracelet for his daughter Maeve, and had also continued to pay rent on his flat that he’d supposedly moved out of.
Of course, as viewers know, the flat has been used as a stopgap for Lauren whilst he planned to send her to live permanently in Northern Ireland. His excuse? That he’d submitted the property and didn’t want Dee-Dee to know, as it wasn’t legally sound.
Lisa became suspicious when her daughter Betsy (Sydney Martin) confessed that they’d been conversing for months, and that he had even given her money. Whilst Joel managed to wriggle his way out, she did some digging through the police records and discovered that he was the one who represented Lauren last year…
In tonight’s episode, she called him up to see if he could confirm what she’d found, and he was quick to try and shut her down.
Meanwhile, Dee-Dee discovered the jewellers that the bracelet was supposedly bought from, and searched up other items that were worth the same amount. After finding a £300 necklace, she approached Roy Cropper (David Neilson) and asked him to confirm whether it was the same as the one Lauren owned – and it was.
She rushed to the hospital to speak with Lauren, and dropped a few hints into conversation about the necklace. Lauren was reluctant to speak and instead said she wanted to focus her efforts on baby Frankie before moving to Belfast.
Suddenly, Dee-Dee had a moment of clarity when she realised that Joel had also planned to visit the Northern Irish city for a ‘work trip’.
Back at the solicitors office, she mentioned the ‘coincidence’ to him and he was keen to shut it down, and later caught him screaming to himself in the car.
Following him to the hospital, the dots were finally joined together when Dee-Dee saw him doting over baby Frankie with Lauren, and she suffered a series of worrying flashbacks.
After being caught by Joel, she covered, telling him that she had forgotten something on her earlier visit and was there to retrieve it. As he went off to work, she entered Lauren’s room and forced a confession out of her, laying down the evidence she gathered.
Little did the two women know, Joel was stood outside of the door listening to their every word.
Lauren opened up about the entirety of her traumatic experience, and it soon became clear to them both that he had somehow managed to induce her early labour.
Later, after driving to the police station, they spoke with Lisa and revealed everything. Unfortunately, Joel had arrived before them and managed to put aside his fabricated version of the story – that Lauren was the one who took the pills to hurt their unborn baby, and that she’d been harassing him.
As he was arrested, a huge row broke out in the reception area.
With her life in tatters, Dee-Dee returned home and broke down in dad Ed’s (Trevor Michael Georges) arms.
Is this the end of Joel?
