This article contains spoilers for tonight’s Coronation Street, which has not yet aired on TV but is available to watch now on ITVX.
It was time to say goodbye to two beloved characters in tonight’s instalment of ITV soap Coronation Street, although one family member nearly didn’t make it in time to wave them off.
Dee-Dee Bailey (Channique Sterling-Brown) had a big decision to make when she was offered a job in Singapore earlier this month.
If she took it, it would mean a brand new start away from the memories of Joel Deering.
Viewers will remember that Dee-Dee was dating solicitor Joel and the pair were even engaged.
However, all wasn’t as it seemed, and it was later revealed that Joel had been responsible for grooming and abusing Lauren Bolton (Cait Fitton).
When the truth came out, Dee-Dee was obviously disgusted, but she was even more horrified to learn that she was pregnant.
After a lot of consideration, Dee-Dee eventually decided that she wanted to raise daughter Laila, co-parenting with brother James Bailey (Jason Callender).
Prior to her final decision, Dee-Dee had agreed to let James adopt Laila, and he was devastated when she changed her mind.
In the months that followed, the co-parenting was going well – until this week.
Taking the job in Singapore would unfortunately mean breaking James’ heart, as she would be taking Laila with her.
It took her a long time to work up the courage to tell her family, but when she did they were mostly supportive – apart from James.
James was understandably devastated that he was set to lose Laila, and he stormed out of the Bistro on hearing the news.
In tonight’s episode, it was Lauren who managed to talk James round, pointing out that Dee-Dee deserved a new start somewhere she wouldn’t be associated with Joel’s crimes.
It was clear that this put things in perspective for James, who later found Dee-Dee to give her his blessing.
However, it was still too painful for him to go to her farewell dinner, despite being invited.
The rest of the family, Lauren and best friend Alya Nazir (Sair Khan) were all in attendance, and made it clear how much Dee-Dee and Laila would be missed.
As Dee-Dee got her things loaded into the cab that would take her down to London ahead of her flight, James came running out of the pub, just in time to say his emotional goodbyes to Laila.
With Dee-Dee having departed the cobbles, is this the last we’ve seen of her, or could she be set to return further down the line?
