A Coronation Street preview has revealed the moment next week where Lauren Bolton is confronted by Joel Deering at the hospital, while elsewhere there’s a character return

Coronation Street’s Joel Deering will target Lauren Bolton once again next week, after his vile actions in the latest episode of the ITV soap.

The character will try and trick Lauren into deleting something that could expose his crimes, and their true link. As Lauren struggles to cope after recent events, Joel will try to encourage her that she needs him, and that she needs to do as he says despite him being to blame for her turmoil – and it leads to a discovery.

During Friday’s horrifying visit to Weatherfield, viewers saw him blackmailing someone into mugging pregnant Lauren. Amid him telling her he will help her flee to Ireland, he made a vile decision this week without Lauren knowing that would endanger her and her unborn baby.

It’s not clear if Joel really is helping Lauren flee despite him wanting her out of the way, while it’s become clear he doesn’t want Lauren to have the baby. Viewers found out last month that Lauren was still alive and in hiding after Joel attacked her and left her for dead in February.

Flashbacks explained that Joel was grooming Lauren for months, coercing her into a sexual relationship and giving her money and gifts to keep her quiet. But when Lauren wanted out he brutally attacked her, almost killing her.

Lauren found out she was pregnant with Joel’s baby, something he discovered last month along with her true fate. Lauren is now back in Weatherfield, claiming to be staying with a friend when Joel has put her up in a flat.

Things took a darker turn on Friday after Joel orchestrated the mugging, leaving Lauren without her keys, her phone and her ID. Lauren was desperate to leave but Joel told her she needed to calm down, before secretly crushing some pills and putting them in her soup.

Just days ago fans were disgusted as he searched online for pills to induce labour, with it clear he wanted Lauren’s unborn child to die. He then left her alone in the locked flat knowing the tablets would trigger early labour, and soon Lauren collapsed in pain.

Her pal Max Turner found her and rushed her to the hospital where Lauren learned her waters had broken, and she was in premature labour that could not be stopped. Joel later headed to the hospital with partner Dee-Dee Bailey where he was stunned to learn Lauren’s baby had survived despite his vile actions.

A preview for next week reveals Joel has a motive for visiting Lauren, as he arrives with a balloon and a new phone for her. But she sees right through him, and soon discovers why he’s really there.

He claims he wants to help her and that she will need him, and tells her she needs to delete the email she has scheduled to be sent to DS Swain in a matter of weeks if not days. The email reveals Joel was her attacker and details everything he has done.

With Lauren now unable to get to Ireland, with her saying that she would only delete it if Joel helped her flee, Joel is desperate as he needs the email to go away. As Lauren realises why he’s really there, will she comply and get rid of the evidence, or will she allow the email to be sent and expose him, possibly leading to the discovery of what he did to her and the baby?

Elsewhere, Alina Pop makes her return after three years away in a new twist. Fiz Brown is left reeling when she spots her former love rival at the supermarket, and is even more