Coronation Street has revealed the reason behind Sam Blakeman's latest set of struggles. The teenager, played by Jude Riordan, was introduced as the long-lost son of Nick Tilsey (Ben Price) in 2020, and since then has had to deal with his mum Natasha being shot dead in a case of mistaken identity, and earlier this year, was key to exposing PE teacher Megan Walsh (Beth Nixon) as a sexual predator, the trauma of which led to him being diagnosed with schizophrenia and enduring a spell on a mental health ward.
Sam's behaviour takes a turn
Just as Sam seemed to be readjusting to life as best he can, things took another turn for the worse. Out of nowhere, the teenager was very snappy with Nick when he told him off for being on his phone and he then was seen being irritable with schoolfriend Hope Dobbs.
In scenes that aired on Thursday night's episode of the world's longest-running TV soap, it was finally revealed why. Viewers may have thought he was acting out after accidentally pushing Rovers Return landlady Eva Price (Catherine Tyldesley) down the stairs in the pub and landing her in hospital.
The truth about the debt
Eva confessed to partner Ben that Sam was the one who accidentally pushed her and the teenager was summoned to the backroom of the Rovers to explain himself to his aunt, claiming that he had been looking for his phone.
Later on, Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson), who is a somewhat surrogate mum to Sam, questioned him on what had really been going on along with Nick and his partner Toyah. He finally said: "I've been buying crypto. I wanted to transfer it back to myself before I lost it all."
Cryptocurrency is a virtual form of money which utilises blockchain networks and investors can potentially earn a passive income via various investments and staking, and the purchase of a digital coin before selling it on for a higher price.
When it was pointed out that he hasn't got any money, Sam confessed that he had pretended to be his dad, who runs the Bistro. Sam told Nick: "I applied for a credit card in your name through a different bank. I've got all the passcodes. I set up an email address to deal with everything."
Leanne's reaction and fan response
In disbelief, Leanne raged: "Do you know what? I can't believe this. Megan or no Megan, illness or no illness, this is totally unacceptable. How much was it, Sam?" When pushed for the amount of debt he racked up, Sam admitted that it had totalled to more than £6,200.
Reacting to the latest scenes, one fan wrote on X: "Sam has f****d up royally," whilst another said: "Bloody hell, Sam!" and a third wrote: "An unexpected twist for Sam Corrie today!"
Coronation Street airs weeknights at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITV X.
