Lauren Bolton’s return spells trouble for Joel. played by actor Calum Lill, in the ITV soap

Coronation Street star Joel Deering has to ‘fight for his life as he knows it’ as Lauren Bolton returns. Fans of the ITV soap have been left in the dark over whether the teen survived a shocking attack at the hands of the local solicitor.

Lauren was last seen in Weatherfield back in February after she was sacked from her job at Roy’s Rolls by Roy Cropper and there had been no trace of her since – until now. The beloved café owner was accused of being behind the disappearance – and presumed death – of Lauren.

However, it was finally revealed at the end of May in flashback scenes that Roy, as everyone already knew, was innocent and that it was in fact Joel who was Lauren’s ‘secret boyfriend’, showering her with flowers and gifts, before having a hand in her desperate exit.

After making a swift exit from Roy’s homecoming, after he was finally released from prison, Joel was met by Hope Stape who handed him a necklace that she found in his car when cleaning it, which viewers recognised belonged to Lauren. Then, a flashback clip revealed how Joel had brutally attacked her with a chair leg.

But after months of pondering whether Lauren had survived the brutal attack, the character appeared distraught as she came to Roy’s bedside after he collapsed in his beloved café and had to be given CPR during Monday night’s (July 8) Corrie.

It’s now been revealed that Joel will confront Lauren in the hospital, with Corrie viewers set to be shown the whole story for the first time. And the twists and turns fans have been in the dark about, actor Calum Lill has known all along and his involvement in Lauren’s presumed death was revealed, the reaction to him changed.

“I never got noticed before that and it came out on the Thursday, I stopped at a service station for a cheeky little cheeseburger and a coffee on the Friday and I felt like I had three heads, it was so different!” he told the Manchester Evening News and other press. “So that’s been different but it’s nice. The biggest thing I was worried about, I didn’t want anyone to think that’s who I am.

“So my biggest fear was just being known as the character but I think with the video of my grandma of me watching it [Corrie] with her and her reaction, that’s helped. Because instead of people calling me Joel or whatever, they’re asking me about my grandma.”

But as mentioned, Calum has been holding the weight of the truth about his character since the beginning. “It’s been over a year,” he told us. “Speaking to people [and them asking], ‘What you going to Corrie to do?’ [and saying], ‘Nothing! I’m just going to be a solicitor…. So it’s so nice [it being out].

“I was terrified of it being leaked or me getting drunk… No, I’m joking! Even when Channique [Sterling-Brown, who plays Dee-Dee Bailey] did Loose Women, we were pitching this love story and quickly going back [to the Corrie set] to film attack scenes and whatever else. So it’s such a relief that it’s now out, mainly because I was terrified of spoiling it and giving it away.”

Sharing how Joel feels knowing Lauren’s back, Calum said: “The immediate worry [for Joel] was that the police are going to find her and he’s going to get arrested and then the police don’t find her and she’s not in the flat so she must be alive but just waiting for her to go to the police – but she didn’t.

“So he’s gone from guilty and keeping his head down to back to that arrogance of, ‘I’ve gotten away with it! I’ve gotten away with something again because I’m so clever.’ I think seeing her, he hoped she was so scared that she’d never come back so he’s seen her and thought, ‘Oh no. My chickens have come home to roost.’ So once he’s seen her, he needs to sort it out… It’s like a sandcastle falling in front of him now.”

With Joel’s wedding to Dee-Dee now set for September 27, it’s fair to say he’s got a lot to lose if Lauren were to reveal the truth. Asked if his character’s in danger, Calum said: “He’s got to fight for his life as he knows it.”

He added: “He’ll go from being a well-paid solicitor with a nice flat in the centre of town, a nice car, a fiancée, a wedding to plan and a daughter he loves to someone in prison with people he used to represent. So he’s literally got everything to lose and I think that’s only