The last thing Sam Blakeman (Jude Riordan) needs is more dramatic upheaval. Bad luck. He lives on Coronation Street.
The schoolboy genius was pushed into a full psychotic breakdown by vile child predator Megan Walsh (Beth Nixon), who had been grooming his fellow classmate Will Driscoll (Lucas Hodgson-Wale).
This led to Sam’s schizophrenia diagnosis, before being sectioned under the Mental Health Act by his devastated dad, Nick Tilsley (Ben Price).
Despite his release, the road to recovery has been decidedly rocky.
Sam has been somewhat attached to his phone of late, so much so that he freaked out when he lost it in the Rovers and accidentally pushed Eva Price (Catherine Tyldesley) down the cellar steps in a panic.
There’s a reason Sam has been so cagey about screentime. He recently confessed to his dad, his step-mum Toyah Battersby (Georgia Taylor) and adoptive mum Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson) to buying £6,000 worth of cypto-currency in his dad’s name. This was particularly problematic for Nick, as he had no way to pay off the debt.
Which brings us to his next problem.
Ever since Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford) was raging over the Barlow clan coming down with food poisoning thanks to some dodgy meat from Speed Daal, it’s broken the fragile truce between the Leanne, Nick and Toyah.
Since Nick was responsible for the delivery, Leanne is starting to suspect him of sabotaging herbusiness.
These accusations are driven in part by her ruthless boyfriend Idris Nazir (Junade Khan), who knows that Nick never liked him and has been demanding her take responsibility for the bad meat.
When the Bistro starts being review-bombed online, the constant stream of one stars leave a despondent Nick fearing that his business’s days are numbered.
As things continue to get worse for the bistro, Nick tells Leanne that they’ve swapped out their usual meat supplier for cheaper supermarket options, and Leanne wonders why he doesn’t sell the Bistro.
Furious, Toyah rejects the idea and accuses Leanne and Idris of sabotaging thembuy the business at a knock-down price, while Idris agrees and continues to needle and pressure Nick into selling the business. Nick’s got a lot on his plate.
Now it seems he’s ready to eat humble pie and finally make a decision about the Bistro’s future, in next week’s trip to Weatherfield.
Nick tells Sam that he’s planning to sell the business back to Leanne so that he can focus on him.
Fraught, Sam begs him to reconsider, pointing out that it’s his livelihood and he loves the place. Nick was never any good at saying no to Sam, especially after everything he has been through.
What will Nick do?
