Coronation Street will soon have a new factory owner as Carla Connor decides to sell up.
Stephen has been worming his way into the factory, keen to manipulate them all to get what he wants. He had been drugging Carla with LSD, hoping to convince everyone that her psychosis had returned and see her give up her place in the factory so he could take over the running of it full time and manipulate everything to get what he wants.
Carla partly owns the Underworld factory, which is at the heart of the Cobbles, but she has made the bold decision to sell her share in the factory. During a meeting with Stephen Reid, she drops the bombshell that she has decided to sell up.
She also tells him she has already found a buyer, leaving Stephen stunned but he manages to not give too much away.
Elsewhere, he considers the other half of his plan and reads an email from the life insurance policy, which confirms his first payment. He tells Elaine about Carla's plan to sell her half of the factory and suggests to her that they re-mortage Redbank.
He tells her they could use the money to buy out Carla's share in Underworld, but will she agree?
Actress Tina O'Brien previously teased her character, Sarah Barlow, could be Stephen's next victim.
She explained: "I don’t think anybody is safe. If he winks at me funny, I’m going to panic and start running from the building! Sarah is one of the closest people to him, so if she finds out, she might be the next one to go."
Actor Todd Boyce - who plays Stephen - was shocked when he first found out he was going to be a serial killer.
"In March, the very start of May, Iain McLeod and I, we sat down on a Zoom and I had no clue I was going to be a murderer," he said.
"There was a nice period of time that they checked my availability for and I think the blood probably drained from my face when he said, 'You are going to be a murderer'. And then I thought, 'Oh my god I am going to be a baddy', then the blood came back to my face and I thought this is going to be amazing, and he kindly wanted to see if that was ok with me."
