One boy can only take so much. Sam Blakeman (Jude Riordan) finally snaps on Coronation Street when he wishes death upon bully Will Driscoll (Lucas Hodgson-Wale)… just as his abuser returns.
Sometimes, there’s a price to pay for being a hero.
Schoolboy sleuth Sam Blakeman was the only one on the Street who realised that his classmate Will was being groomed into an illicit sexual relationship by their predatory teacher, Megan Walsh (Beth Nixon).
He exposed the monster’s true colours, but not before enduring countless threats, intimidation and academic sabotage from Megan which drove him to take unprescribed ritalin and collapse on the Cobbles.
Even after the truth came out, Sam’s nightmare wasn’t over.
Initially, the police couldn’t find anything to charge Megan with because she had carefully covered her tracks. All coming forward did was drive a furious Willto seek revenge on Sam for trying to destroy his ‘relationship’.
The bullying got so bad that the troubled teen started to lose his grip on reality, experiencing distressing hallucinations of Will chasing him that seemed completely real – or how he imagined Will cornering him in the ginnel, when he was in fact arguing with himself and smashed his beloved telescope in the process.
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This was only the beginning of poor Sam’s mental health crisis.
More recently, Sam listened in on his dad Nick Tilsley (Ben Price)discussing a wine order with Toyah Battersby (Georgia Taylor), only to hear a completely different conversation where they branded him a liar who’s jealous of Will.
Not only that, but Sam experienced a chilling vision of Roy Cropper (David Neilson), who gave him some disturbingly un-Roy-like advice, insisting that his enemies are everywhere and advising the boy to trust nobody.
While Sam’s in the grips of a breakdown, Will’s been suffering his too.
The hold that Megan had over him was finally broken on the day they were supposed to run away to Paris together thanks to a heart to heart with Tim Metcalfe’s (Joe Duttine), who opened up about his own experience being targeted by a sexual abuser.
This, combined with the crushing realisation that Megan had only booked a ticket to Paris for herself, caused the scales finally fell from Will’s eyes and he reported his abuser to the police, resulting in her long overdue arrest.
However, the road to recovery will not be an easy one. Will is struggling to come to terms with the fact that Megan never truly cared about him, leaving him unsure who to trust. He has already accused Bethany Platt (Lucy Fallon) of trying to touch him inappropriately when she was just offering him a caring hug.
There’s no doubt about it. Will is at rock bottom, and having his dad Ben Ben (Aaron McCusker) at war with his grandmother Maggie (Pauline McLynn) really isn’t helping.
It’s about to get so much worse.
In upcoming scenes of Coronation Street, some angry words from Sam push Will to the point of no return…
In the café, Will’s is confronted by Sam, who spits that he’s evil and wishes him dead. Will is left seriously shaken by the encounter.
These feelings are only compounded later when Will is devastated to hear an emotional Ben voice his fears to Eva Price (Catherine Tyldesley) thatMegan has ruined Will’s life.
Devastated by what he hears, Will chugs some vodka and climbs dangerously high up on the shop yard scaffolding.
Fortunately, he’s spotted by Asha Alahan (Tanisha Gorey), who texts Maggie for help.
Racing onto the scene, Maggie climbs up to Will and gives him a pep talk, urging him to take back control of his life.
The Driscolls hold their breath, can Maggie talk Will down? Or Will Sam get his wish?
