Coronation Street's Stephen caught out by Rufus over Carla drugging

In between doses, Carla would return to her usual self - but husband Peter (Chris Gascoyne) still took her to see Doctor Gaddas (Christine Mackie). She prescribed Carla with diazepam, and the factory owner planned to head straight to work afterwards.

But, with a big meeting scheduled with representatives from an American company, Carla was not happy when Stephen reminded her to be on top form so they could seal the deal.

Later, as Owen (Ben Hull) and his colleague sat with Carla, Stephen and his niece Sarah Barlow (Tina O'Brien), Sarah was busy trying to shoehorn US phrases into the conversation to impress them. But she and Carla were constantly interrupted by Stephen; so Carla embarrassed him by sending him off to make tea and coffee.

Fuming, Stephen furtively double-dosed Carla's drink with LSD, and as the meeting continued, her behaviour was a cause for concern as she slurred her words. Then Carla accused the rest of the staff of talking about her, her paranoia now at an all-time high.

The staff fled when she loudly ordered them out, while Stephen played the dutiful employee and Peter arrived to find a broken Carla sat on the floor. Peter explained that Carla would be feeling better soon, as per her recent experiences, and Stephen offered to help him take her home.

Once there, Stephen suggested that the expansion of business deals was putting too much pressure on Carla, so Peter said he would try and keep her away from work while she recovered. Stephen was quick to claim that they all needed her back soon, but was secretly thrilled that his plan to get rid of Carla was coming together.

But little did Stephen know that Rufus had spotted them taking a disoriented Carla home, and realised exactly what was going on. At The Rovers, Rufus confronted Stephen, who denied that he was drugging Carla.

When he changed tack and threatened to spill Rufus's dalliances with drugs and sex workers, though, Rufus revealed his wife had left him, so he had nothing to lose - but Stephen did if he told Carla and Peter everything.

As Stephen asked what it would take for Rufus to leave it be, the latter simply instructed him to buy him a drink for starters. How will Stephen get out of this one?

Read more:

• Coronation Street's Richard Hillman star 20 years on: "I'm not even a Northerner!"
• 7 Coronation Street spoilers next week: Will Stephen kill again?

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