ITVX wasn’t kidding when they touted Coronation Street’s final season as the darkest in years.

In the latest early release, the Driscolls were thrust straight into the eye of the storm with a shocking confirmation: Maggie was the one who killed her husband, and that past was about to drag the Rovers into a tearful Christmas.

For weeks, fans had grown accustomed to the familiar drama rhythm of the Rovers: arguments, jealousy, a few small fights.

But at the same time, ITV kept teasing a new killer about to be revealed, tied to the legendary pub.

When the birthday flashback aired, all the pieces immediately fell into place. It turned out that Maggie’s husband’s accidental death was just a thin layer of paint covering a sin that had been buried for a lifetime.

The early release not only showed Alan’s fatal fall, but also revealed how Maggie dealt with it. There was no scene of her rushing to call an ambulance, no choked confession to the police. Instead, there were brief moments of panic, then a cold, terrifying decision: to keep it all hidden in silence. From then on, every birthday Maggie had to play the role of a poor widow, while the truth lay dormant in the memory of the child who witnessed it all.

What gave the audience goosebumps was that this sense of crime did not stop at a fall down the stairs. The Christmas teasers hinted at a new death at the Rovers, with a warning that the old secret would be dug up in the middle of a crowded pub. The prospect of Maggie being exposed for her murderous past right where she used to stand, laughing, pouring beer every day, was enough to make fans suffocate just thinking about it.