In a dramatic turn on Coronation Street, Leanne Battersby is set to make a perilous business decision that could bring her into direct conflict with one of the cobbles' most dangerous residents: killer Maggie Driscoll.
A Coffee Morning Revelation Sparks Reflection
The chain of events begins during a girly catch-up at Roy's Rolls on Friday, January 16, 2026. Leanne, alongside Eva Price and Mary Taylor, notices a phone alert for Megan Walsh. Later, Leanne and Eva find Megan in tears, leading to a confession: Megan is pregnant. Unbeknownst to them, Megan is secretly grooming Eva's underage stepson, Will Driscoll.
Megan claims the father is her boyfriend, Daniel Osbourne, but insists she is not ready for motherhood and plans an abortion. This news triggers a profound reaction in Leanne, who draws on her own painful past.
Leanne's Painful Past Informs a Risky Future
Opening up to Megan, Leanne references her 'miracle baby', Oliver, the son she had with Steve McDonald against all odds. "I've been exactly where you are now," Leanne explains, reflecting on Oliver's tragic death from Mitochondrial disease. Despite her empathetic advice for Megan to reconsider, the younger woman's mind is made up.
The emotional encounter leaves Leanne shaken and questioning her own life. In the Rover's Return, she vents to Eva, expressing a desperate desire for change. "What am I still doing here? Working in a curry house," she despairs, resolving to sell her share in Speed Dahl and seek a fresh start somewhere new.
A Pub Takeover Plan That Could Provoke a Killer
Leanne's musings are interrupted by Maggie Driscoll nagging Eva for drinking wine while working. As Leanne encourages Eva to stand up to her mother-in-law, Eva proposes a radical alternative: they should buy out Maggie's share and run the Rovers Return together.
Eva enthusiastically gushes, "Me and you running the Rovers! It would be brilliant!" Leanne is clearly taken with the idea. However, this scheme is certain to infuriate Maggie, a woman known for her fierce, murderous protectiveness over her family and her pub.
The sharp-tongued landlady previously killed her own husband during a heated argument, pushing him down the stairs. If she was willing to commit murder to protect her family's interests, her reaction to an attempted hostile takeover of her business by her daughter-in-law and Leanne could be explosive and deeply dangerous.
