ITV Coronation Street demand ‘free Roy Cropper’ as they ‘rumble’ Lauren Bolton’s real kidnapper

Coronation Street fans were left gutted for Roy Cropper on Friday.

Earlier this week, missing teenager Lauren Bolton’s mum ‘Kerry’ made her arrival, claiming she is the mother of Lauren, who is presumed dead by the police. However, in a twist, on Friday night’s episode, it was revealed that she wasn’t who she said she was and is actually a lady called Alice, who was at Roy’s under false pretences and secretly filmed everything she saw, claiming he’s a murderer.

During the night, Alice secretly filmed Roy’s living room and made him out to be a murderer in her commentary. Things went from bad to worse when Roy slept walk into the room, where Kerry filmed him while pretending to be asleep. The next morning, Nick and Sam popped by where Nick apologised to Roy. He told Roy that when everything returns back to normal, he’d be happy for Roy and Sam to spend more time together while Sam sweetly told Roy that he’s his best friend forever, as Alice watched on twisting what she saw in her footage.

Later, Roy was confused when he got a call from Lauren’s mum, who asked him not to contact her again. As all eyes were on ‘Kerry’, she finally admitted that she’s actually a lady called Alice. Roy was left completely stunned and heartbroken over the betrayal, especially after seeing Alice’s footage, making him out to be a “creep”.

In a bid to cheer him up, Evelyn Plummer suggested they head out on a walk with Freddie. However, Alice suddenly appeared as she started filming them and taunting Roy, even bringing up his beloved late wife Hayley Cropper. Evelyn kept telling Alice to leave while Roy was left shocked over the mention of Hayley as he grabbed the phone off her.

Alice then tried to grab the device back and as she did, she stumbled and fell to the ground, hitting her head. Alice, whose head was bleeding, was quick to accuse Roy of assault as she ran off. Later, Alice posted more videos online claiming Roy had assaulted her and she had been to the police as well as hospital.

Roy was left utterly bewildered as Evelyn pointed out that he didn’t push her and that Alice had tripped over her own feet. However, later, DS Swain called at the cafe and revealed that Alice had made a complaint against Roy, insisting the latter be taken in for questioning.

During an intense police grilling, DS Swain suggested that Roy assaulted Alice in a fit of temper like he did when he attacked Gary Windass with a cricket bat in 2014. Later on the episode, Roy’s solicitor Dee-Dee broke the news to his loved ones that Roy had been charged with the murder of Lauren. The episode ended with Roy sitting alone in his police cell, absolutely terrified.

Viewers were quick to react to the scenes as they demanded that Roy was freed immediately as they pointed out the ‘real kidnapper’. Taking to Twitter, now X, one person said: “Poor Roy Cropper! Give him a retweet if you think he’s innocent- free Roy #FREEROYCROPPER #Corrie #FreeRoy #CoronationStreet #RoyCropper #JusticeForRoy”, a different account put: “Free Roy #Corrie”, another wrote: “#Corrie Right, when are where are we protesting to free Roy?” while another added: “FREE ROY CROPPER!! #Corrie.”

Elsewhere, other viewers were quick to predict another character could be Lauren’s real kidnapper, writing: “I bet Joel has Lauren. He hasn’t been on for ages, and they want us to forget about him #Corrie”, a different account put: “Notice how Joel has disappeared and so has Lauren? #corrie”, a different account put: “Is there a possible link to Lauren’s disappearance with Joel?” while another wrote: “My theory is Joel killed Lauren on @itvcorrie because he was secretly seeing her #Corrie #WhoKilledLauren.”

Meanwhile, one viewer put: “#corrie I’m starting to side with everyone who accused Joel of being Lauren’s secret boyfriend. 1. We haven’t seen him since she went missing. 2. The day Dee-Dee dumped him was the same day Lauren was covered in bruises. 3. Solicitor so knows how to cover up a crime scene. 4. He’s a Solicitor so has a lot of money- one of the few things we do know about the secret bf. 5. Dee-Dee is abstaining until marriage, which would explain his connection to Lauren. I also do not believe his story about that other lady being his wife. #corrie” while another added: “I thought Joel was Laurens secret man but he seems to have disappeared #Corrie…”