Carl Webster (Jonathan Howard) has been stringing Abi Webster (Sally Carman) along for months in Coronation Street, but now his infidelities have finally caught up with him.
From the moment we first saw Carl we knew he was going to be bad news, and he seems to have gone above and beyond to prove us right.
As if bedding brother Kevin Webster’s (Michael Le Vell) wife while he was undergoing cancer treatment wasn’t bad enough, he has continued to be unfaithful even after Abi walked away from her whole life to be with him.
Not to mention the fact that he dragged local teens Dylan Wilson (Liam McCheyne) and Brody Michaelis (Ryan Mulvey) into his dodgy car theft scams and left Tyrone Dobbs (Alan Halsall) with serious injuries after hitting him with a stolen car.
Oh, and there’s also that tiny issue of Carl manipulating sister Debbie Webster’s (Sue Devaney) dementia diagnosis to gain access to her business accounts.
All in all, a pleasant chap.
It seems that Carl is allergic to a quiet, peaceful life, and is only satisfied when he’s causing turmoil for his loved ones. Unfortunately for Abi, it was her turn to face the music this Christmas – and we’re not talking about Christmas carols.
While in the early stages of his affair with his brother’s wife, Carl ended up in bed with another neighbour, James Bailey (Jason Callender).
Unfortunately for Abi, this was not a one time thing.
Over the past few months, even as Abi left Kevin and moved in with Carl, he has been going behind her back to sleep with James.
Just a few days ago, Carl and James had a near miss when the football coach sent a suggestive message to Carl’s phone.
Fortunately for them, Carl managed to twist the narrative to something less sordid, making out that James wanted to meet him to apologise for his lack of an invite to Ronnie Bailey’s (Vinta Morgan) stag do.
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Of course, none of this was true, but when Abi confronted James about it, he was quick to catch on and back up Carl’s story.
Their second near miss came yesterday, as the pair enjoyed a festive fumble while Abi took Alfie to spend Christmas with Kevin and Jack.
Busy as he was, Carl missed a message from Abi to let him know she was on her way back, and he was forced to delay her at the last minute in order to bundle James out of the door unseen.
Confident Carl thought he’d got away with it, until Abi found what would turn out to be his downfall.
When Abi pulled out a necklace from between the couch cushions, she questioned Carl, who suavely suggested that it must have belonged to a previous owner.
Unfortunately, no amount of charm or charisma could cover up the facts, which Abi uncovered in tonight’s episode.
Coming face-to-face with Michael Bailey (Ryan Russell), Abi was shocked to spot him wearing the same necklace.
When he explained that he and James had received a matching necklace each for Christmas from their mum, Abi’s stomach dropped as the pieces began to fall into place.
She wasted no time in confronting Carl, who, as ever, had an answer ready.
He explained that he knew it was James’ necklace and he’d lied to her because they’d been discussing another car scam.
Knowing that Abi wasn’t happy with Carl’s previous criminal enterprise, he was able to argue that he knew she would have been angry, and that seeing as James had turned down his business proposal anyway, he thought it best to keep quiet.
Unable to trust Carl’s word alone, Abi headed to the pub where she thanked James for turning Carl down, though his shifty behaviour and quick exit clearly rattled her.
She was then pushed further over the edge by Tracy Barlow’s (Kate Ford) advice that Carl couldn’t be trusted, and that the more elaborate his story, the bigger his lie was likely to be.
Though Abi brushed it off to save face in front of her frenemy, it clearly played on her mind, and later she made moves to get to the bottom of things once and for all.
After tricking a dozing Carl into unlocking his phone, she checked his texts, and was horrified to read the full extent of his communications with James.
All she could do was read in horror as Carl slept in her lap – a vulnerable place to be in this situation indeed!
How will Abi react to her discovery? Is Carl’s carefully constructed house of cards set to finally collapse?
