Coronation Street fans will reportedly see a horrific ordeal rock the cobbles later this year, with killer Rob Donovan’s prison escape leading to major chaos in Weatherfield.
In upcoming scenes, Carla Connor’s murderer brother will escape from prison and take his sister hostage in gripping scenes. Marc Baylis, who plays Rob on the ITV soap, returned to the soap last month, with his character being sentenced to life in jail after murdering Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan).
In the coming months, Rob will break out of prison, with his jailbreak reportedly leading to a shooting. A TV Insider told The Sun: “Viewers will be on the edge of their seats as the gripping hostage ordeal followed by a cold-blooded murder unfolds. No one is safe from the peril and havoc Rob is set to unleash.”
Rob Donovan is set to escape from prison – leading to the death of one major character
The news comes after ITV announced last week that its soaps would be cutdown to 30-minute episodes, meaning an hour less of Coronation Street and Emmerdale each week. The Mirror exclusively revealed that 75 roles are expected to be made redundant out of the 600 people working across both soaps.
“From 2026, and if the proposals are agreed, through consultation we would expect around 75 roles to be made redundant,” an insider told us. “ITV always looks to minimise the impact of a reduction in roles by not filling vacancies and through voluntary redundancy.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for ITV said: “We can’t say for sure at this stage as we will be entering into a consultation process with staff. Our aim is to achieve as many as we can through voluntary redundancy and filling vacancies.”
The change is set to kick in on the soaps in 2026, with ITV’s Managing Director of Media and Entertainment Kevin Lygo saying that the schedule switch-up is viewer-led. “We already give more choice than ever to viewers on how they watch us through ITVX and we want to present their favourite soap to them, in the most digestible way,” he said.
“In a world where there is so much competition for viewers’ time and attention, and viewing habits continue to change, we believe this is the right amount of episodes that fans can fit into their viewing schedule, to keep up to date with the shows.
“Research insights also show us that soap viewers are increasingly looking to the soaps for their pacey storytelling. Streaming-friendly, 30 minute episodes better provide the opportunity to meet viewer expectations for storyline pace, pay-off and resolution.”
