Brutal Coronation Street villain returns after years – and he’s instantly accused of murder

Nathan Curtis (Christopher Harper), the man who abused and groomed Bethany Platt (Lucy Fallon), will return to Coronation Street next week as part of Lauren Bolton’s (Cait Fitton) ongoing storyline.

During the plot in 2016, the evil character was part of a group that would manipulate young girls, rape, and trick them into thinking they’re in a relationship.

The storyline concluded for Bethany and Nathan when he planned to have her sent away to Belgium to work as a sex slave. Bethany learnt of Nathan’s true colours, found help from a family, who then called the police and had Nathan arrested.

As the investigation into Lauren’s disappearance continues, the next stage will feature the police creating a reconstruction of her last known movements.

Max (Paddy Bever), Bethany and Beth (Lisa George) decide to head to the precinct to watch it unfold but when Bethany notices a crowd of people, she is horrified to realise Nathan is within the group.

As she struggles to contain her emotions, Daniel (Rob Mallard) finds Bethany at home in distress. She reveals that she spotted Nathan at the precinct, but Daniel tells her it was probably her mind playing tricks because Nathan is in prison.

Later in the week, Daniel continues to tell Bethany that she never saw Nathan.

Convinced she did, Bethany pauses the video of the police reconstruction and zooms in to show Daniel a close up of the man in question.

At the police station, DS Swain (Vicky Myers) confirms to Bethany that Nathan was released months ago. Furious, Bethany tells the detective that Nathan needs to be questioned because he was probably responsible for Lauren’s murder.

Later, after doing some research, Bethany and Daniel track Nathan down at a building site near the precinct. Just as Nathan comes face to face with her, Bethany accuses him of murdering Lauren.

But is she right?

Discussing reprising his role, actor Chris Harper said: ‘It was really important [to return] as it had such a big effect on me the first time round. Iain and Verity were brilliant at including me and my input into the story and what was going to happen.

‘It’s a fascinating rollercoaster combination of stories that Nathan’s entering into but I think it’s really good that we took on tips from the Maggie Oliver Foundation and other groups about the sort of behaviour that we’d see from him. It’s been really interesting to revisit Nathan and take on board how his life has changed.’