Coronation Street’s sinister cult leader kills Toyah Battersby to claim Leanne as his victim?
Coronation Street’s Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson) has recently fallen under the spell of an organisation called the Altervalant Institute and its charismatic guru, Rowan (Emrhys Cooper).
Emrhys Cooper explained to us that, ‘Rowan’s main role at Altervalant is recruitment. He travels all over to present conferences and seminars, identifying the more ‘“receptive” people and encouraging them into the fold. Once he’s done that, he schools them into how to recruit others.
What you’ve seen of Rowan so far is only the tip of the iceberg. He’s very clever and good at what he does and yes, Leanne is in awe of him.’
One person who isn’t in awe of Rowan and is entirely sceptical about the whole organisation is Leanne’s sister, Toyah (Georgia Taylor).
As a trained counsellor Toyah can see the techniques Rowan is using to draw Leanne in to his cult and she’s worried about the psychological harm it could ultimately do to her sister.
Toyah has already tried speaking to Rowan about it, but he was easily able to brush off her concerns. What could potentially be more troubling to him would be if Leanne started to believe her sister and draw away from his group.
In coming episodes Toyah has been trying to reason with her sister. Leanne reports back to Rowan about this in one of their frequent video calls and his message is stark – Leanne needs to distance herself from her sister immediately because Toyah is undermining all the good work Leanne is putting in.
Meanwhile Toyah herself is potentially vulnerable after she witnesses some amateur sleuths digging up the Red Rec in a bid to find the body of missing Lauren Bolton (Cait Fitton).
When Nick (Ben Price) sees Toyah’s anguished response to this he knows there’s something very badly wrong and she eventually tells him that when she was 19 she secretly gave birth to a stillborn baby and buried it in the Red Rec at the spot the sleuths were digging. She says the baby was the result of her being raped by Phil Simmonds.
This harrowing incident will, of course, throw Toyah’s life into turmoil – something that Rowan could potentially exploit.
How far will he go to keep his new recruit, Leanne?
