Coronation Street star Nathan Essex has teased a return to the cobbles for his character Richie Parkinson, who is currently in prison for the murder of his wife Rachel. The actor shared a picture of himself outside a festively-decorated Rovers Return, captioned: 'Very festive in Weatherfield'. Anya Dewin, who plays his on-screen daughter Lucy, commented: 'Yayyyyyy Dad!!!!!', while Catherine Tyldesley, who plays Rovers landlady Eva Price, added a string of hands-up emojis.
Richie's dark storyline
Richie arrived in Weatherfield as the cousin of Tim Metcalfe (Joe Duttine), and after a boozy catch-up with Tim while wife Sally (Sally Dynevor) was away, things turned horrific when Tim found Richie at home with Rachel's corpse. Richie was locked up, and Tim and Sally took in his disturbed daughter Lucy (Anya Dewin), whose extreme behaviour has caused chaos, with something clearly amiss between her and her dad, as he insists she 'stick to the story'.
Christmas hook teased
Essex previously teased his return in an interview with BBC Wales, saying: 'When you get a job like this, they kind of tell you the story arc, but, of course, because it's a new storyline, I only know stuff up until a certain period. I've been kind of given sort of a brief that this is what could happen, but I don't know myself.' He added: 'All I know is it's quite a big Christmas hook, and you know the dream, I would love to be in Coronation Street on Christmas Day. While you're tucking into your Ferrero Rochers or your Roses, yes, I'll be on your screens. I don't know. Perhaps. Isn't that the dream?'
Speaking on his joy of working on the ITV soap, Nathan said: 'To be there, like doing a job there, walking down these famous cobbles, honestly, it really gets to you. Corrie means so much to so many people. It is a national institution. We've all grown up on it at some point in our lives.'
Twist in Rachel's murder
The murder storyline has taken a further twist in recent weeks, when Christina Boyd (Amy Robbins) confessed to George Shuttleworth (Tony Maudsley) that she was Rachel's biological mum. 'She had this child, she was in a very difficult situation, and she gave the baby away as a young woman,' explained Amy. 'And that's absolutely carved out the rest of her life. It's the reason that she's never been able to fully commit to her second child. She found mothering Daisy [Midgeley (Charlotte Jordan)] so difficult, because she was feeling so guilty about the first baby that she gave away.'
Christina has been planning how she can be a part of Lucy's life, taking her for a drink in the café this week. Sally was deeply unimpressed to find them, with Lucy bunking off school, and took Christina to task, promising to speak to social services regarding potential access, but warning Christina to steer well clear until she's heard from them, reasoning that Lucy is already deeply troubled and not wanting to cause any more trouble. With Nathan filming again on the Corrie set, it suggests he'll be released sooner rather than later, but the question remains who will be taking his place in prison.
