Debbie Webster (Sue Devaney) has decided to hand over her hotel to Ronnie Bailey (Vinta Morgan) so she can spend more time with her family before her dementia takes over her life. The decision came during a Coronation Street episode dedicated entirely to Debbie and her friends.
An evening with the girl squad
At the start of the instalment, Debbie was delighted to see her friends Abi Webster (Sally Carman-Duttine), Glenda Shuttleworth (Jodie Prenger), Bernie Winter-Alahan (Jane Hazlegrove), Christina Boyd (Amy Robbins) and Sally Metcalfe (Sally Dynevor) arrive at her door. Debbie had invited them over to help create a photo album ahead of Carl Webster's (Jonathan Howard) 40th birthday.
The evening began well, but tension soon emerged as each woman dealt with drama in her own life. Christina, grieving her daughter Rachel, ended up projecting her emotions onto her friends and being harsh with Glenda and Debbie. By the end of the night, however, the group were united.
A pact for the future
Sitting around tealights, each resident picked one up and made a pact for their future. When it was Debbie's turn, she emotionally revealed she had decided to say goodbye to life at her hotel. She was later seen preparing paperwork to sign the hotel over to Ronnie Bailey.
Bernie, who has the harmful BRCA gene mutation, told her friends that even if she had a double mastectomy or a hysterectomy, she would still be herself.
Producer on the special episode
Producer Kate Brooks explained how the episode came about: "It came about in a story conference. I like telling special episodes. I like trying to make it really character focused and character driven. I know how special this friendship group is on screen. It's just electric. I thought, let's dedicate a whole episode to these women and these stories. There's no stunts. There's nothing like that."
Brooks added: "This is just about their relationship with each other, with the outside world, and a little snapshot into what it's like when you've got that female friendship group. When I meet up with my friends, I don't do it as much as I should these days, but it's so lovely to be in that environment and to feel relaxed and be able to kind of chat and talk about whatever's going on."
Ongoing storylines
The episode also touched on Abi's loneliness, as she stood outside Kevin and Jack Webster's house, debating whether to knock before changing her mind. Glenda, with newfound confidence, rang her love interest and arranged to meet him, though his identity has not been revealed. Brooks has previously confirmed Glenda's romance will be part of her big storyline next year.
Christina has applied for a visiting order to see Richie, the man who murdered her daughter Rachel. In upcoming episodes, she will visit him in prison.
Brooks said of the episode: "I just thought, let's strip it back. Let's make it a very kind of conversational piece, and let's just focus on friendship. The stories are there and they're all ongoing and they're all continuing to go into the future. But this is, for me, an episode about friendship and female friendship more than anything, so I thought it would be really nice to see that captured on screen."
