Coronation Street is set to take predatory teacher Megan Walsh (Beth Nixon) to new levels of evil as she smears her pupil Sam Blakeman’s (Jude Riordan) name at school… all to keep her sexual abuse a secret.
For a frustratingly long amount of time, Megan has managed to keep grooming underage Will Driscoll (Lucas Hodgson-Wale) into an inappropriate relationship right under the nose of his family.
In her capacity as his athletics coach, she persuaded his father Ben Driscoll (Aaron McCusker) and grandmother Maggie Driscoll (Pauline McLynn) to pay for her one-on-one training sessions with Will, allowing her weekly access to her unsuspecting victim. Not only that, but she started dating teacher Daniel Osbourne (Rob Mallard) as the perfect cover for her illicit liaisons with Will, securing herself a job teaching PE at the school into the bargain.
It seemed that manipulative Megan was untouchable… then along came Sam Blakeman.
The chess-loving socially awkward schoolkid seems like the very last person who could bring about the downfall of a scheming sex offender who’s wrapped most of Coronation Street around her little finger. But there’s something delightfully Roahl Dahl about a child taking on a monster in a world of oblivious adults, and that’s exactly what Sam has done in recent episodes, where Will’s dynamic with Megan started to give him the ick.
Sam’s suspicions were first aroused when he spotted a tracksuit top, which Megan claimed was Daniel’s, in Will’s flat. This raised enough alarm bells for Sam to confront Will, who of course made excuses before reporting back to Megan in full on panic mode.
Although Megan confronted Sam and tried to scare him into dropping his allegations without giving anything away, the pint-sized Poirot was like a dog with a bone, determined to save his friend from the clutches of his abuser.
This means war – and Megan knows how to play dirty. She stole Sam’s essay from Daniel’s bag in an effort to dissuade the poor lad from speaking out by targeting his grades.
In soon-to-be released episodes, viewers will see the arch manipulator twist the knife by spreading lies about Sam whilst the troubled teen spirals into drug abuse in a desperate attempt to improve his academic performance.
When Sam learns from Daniel that his essay is nowhere to be found, he’s fuming and immediately suspects Megan’s handiwork. Determined to duo anything he can to up his grades, Sam listens intently during Eva Price’s (Catherine Tyldesley) birthday meal at the Bistro as Daniel discuses the misuse of ADHD medication for a study aid.
Soon enough, Sam’s on his phone and considering buying unprescribed Ritalin, a drug often used to treat ADHD to help improve focus. Like butter wouldn’t melt, Megan approaches Sam under the guise of being concerned about his work and offers him extra help.
Of course, this is all a ruse.
As soon as Megan reports back to Daniel, she drips poison in his ear about how Sam threw her offer of help right back in her face. It seems like manipulative Megan is trying to turn everyone against Sam.
And it’s only going to get worse. In a recent interview, Executive Producer Kate Brooks revealed how Sam will have a major part to play in the Megan and Will saga.
‘It is just the tip of the iceberg and we’ll follow the Will and Megan element quite closely. It’s a very important story to tell and we want to be as truthful as possible. As part of that story Sam will end up getting embroiled in it all. Sam is semi-related to the pub family and he potentially gets wind that something’s amiss. We will see the lengths that Megan will go to manipulate Sam into keeping quiet. It’ll be massively detrimental to Sam’s wellbeing. ‘
Will Sam expose Megan?
