Corrie viewers have been left in shock after Vicar Billy’s violent attack on Peter Barlow.
Billy launched himself at the pub landlord after the pair exchanged words over Summer Spellman’s collapse.
It’s a side to the usually mild-mannered vicar we’ve never seen before and it was far more than just one punch thrown in a moment of anger – it was a full-on attack.
In tonight’s first episode, Summer had been struggling with it being her late dad’s birthday and the fact Todd and Billy were taking a break from each other.
When Simon Barlow then dared her to smoke a dodgy cigarette he’d found on the floor at school, she at first refused, but later, after believing Todd and Billy were splitting up for good, she hid in the ginnel and smoked it.
Simon and his cousin Amy Barlow then found her unconscious and called for help. An ambulance arrived and got her to hospital.
It was a busy time for the Weatherfield paramedics because at exactly the same moment another ambulance was on the cobbles to collect Chesney, who had collapsed at the kebab shop with an infection.
Back to Summer though, after Peter and Toyah managed to get the truth out of Simon about how and why Summer had had the dodgy cigarette, and the doctors had told Billy it was nasty drug spice, Peter thought he’d better let the vicar know exactly what had happened.
“It was just kids being kids,” Peter explained. But Billy wasn’t having any of it, especially when he knew it was Simon who had given her the spice.
Peter didn’t help matters by bringing up Billy’s drug addict brother, but as he went to leave, Billy hit out that he’d be reporting Simon to the police.
He insisted Simon must have made her do it and has been bullying Summer.
But Peter hit back it was Todd and Billy’s constant arguing that has been upsetting the youngster: “If you’re looking for someone to blame Billy, look a bit closer to home,” he said.
At which point Billy launched a very violent attack on Peter, throwing him against a wall, and then proceeding to punch him hard to the ground before hitting him over and over again.
As he suddenly backed off, realising what he’d done, a bloody and bruised Peter stood up and left. But will he take it further?
Fans were shocked at just how much rage Billy had and took to Twitter to air their horror: