AFTER standing on the side-lines, away from all the drama mostly involving her daughter, Tracy Barlow is set for a huge new storyline.
The Coronation Street favourite played by Kate Ford is set for a new affair after bumping into a hunky footballer.
Christmas is on its way in upcoming scenes of the ITV soap and Tracy is far from impressed when she realises this will mean she needs to cook for a group of ten people.
To make matters worse at No.1, a joke about relationship gap years causes friction between her and her husband Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson).
Popping over to the flower shop to find a bottle of wine she finds herself serving former football star Tommy Orpington (Matt Milburn) who has seized the opportunity to get a last minute gift for his mother.
Tracy is no stranger to infidelity but will she really embark on a new affair with the returning character?
As regular viewers of the Manchester-based program will remember, Tommy hasn’t been seen in the cobbles since 2021, when he retired from his footballing career.
He was first introduced in 2016 when he befriended Steve McDonald and Tim Metcalfe (Joe Duttine) after hiring Michelle Connor as a wedding planner.
Corrie boss Iain MacLeod teased his return during a chat with The Sun in November.
“Well, you’ll see him on Christmas Day. He, since leaving football, has made some bad business investments, not the least of which was opening a Tommy Orpington themed gourmet burger restaurant, which has been established on screen.”
“Anyway, they’ve all gone belly up, his wife has left him and he’s now had to return to the trade he had when he was a non league footballer, which is painter and decorator.”
Iain then revealed that he’d be getting closer to a well-established female character in Weatherfield – will it really be Tracy?
“He is now single, and there might be one of our female characters that needs some decorating done – not a euphemism.”
Everything you need to know about Coronation Street
“So, yes, there’s basically a story that evolves where this attractive, successful historically, man arrives into one of our female character’s lives and upsets the apple cart in fairly spectacular fashion, shall we say.”
“You’ll know quite quickly who I’m talking about, probably, when you see the episode, but I’d rather not say too much now, just so that you can enjoy that surprise for yourselves when we get to Christmas.”
Will Tommy decide his bond with Steve isn’t worth staying away from Tracy?
Coronation Street airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8pm on ITV.
