Corrie’s Pat Phelan is in a really bad mood next week and after annoying most of Weatherfield, he fires his apprentice Seb Franklin.
Of course this is all due to his long-lost daughter, Nicola Rubinstein, rejecting him, but is there something else going on?
The week doesn’t start well for Phelan when he encounters Brian Packham, the local council’s one-man litter enforcer. Pat’s dropped a sweet wrapper and Brian (and his megaphone) aren’t impressed.
As Phelan loses his temper when Brian insists he pick it up, he storms off back to the builder’s yard where he encounters Seb.
A tense moment between the pair sees Phelan lash out and fire his young lacky, but Eileen’s watching it all and she knows what’s really bothering her husband.
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After being convinced to give Seb another chance – after all, Seb’s presence means his case worker, Nicola, will have to be around – it looks like Phelan’s week is about to get better when Nicola herself turns up.
She’s previously made it perfectly clear she’s not on board with the idea he’s her dad, she doesn’t believe it and she wants nothing to do with the killer builder (though she doesn’t actually know he’s a killer at this stage). Hence why Pat’s been walking round like a bear with a sore head.
But she arrives at the yard and invites him for a drink. Phelan obviously jumps at the chance without asking any questions, however Nicola then reveals she knows his secret – he’s dying.
WHAT? Is Phelan really on his way out? Does he have a terminal illness we have no idea about? Has he been keeping this secret to himself all this time?
Well, it turns out, no, he hasn’t, because he also has no clue what she’s on about.
It’s all down to youngster Seb, who’s told the fib to get Nicola to soften. But will Phelan put her straight or will he go along with the plot as it seems to be the only way to get her to talk to him?
When she then turns up at the house and tells Eileen she wants a DNA test, it’s a vital move forward in her relationship with Pat.
He eagerly agrees, already sure of the outcome, but will it bring the result he wants?
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And if Nicola finds out that he’s not really dying, will she wash her hands of him for good this time?