ITV Coronation Street villain Rowan exposed as his real name and sinister past revealed

Coronation Street villain Rowan Cunliffe was finally exposed on Friday’s episode.

Soap watchers will recall that mysterious newcomer Rowan has targeted Leanne Battersby with his “self-improvement group” The Institute. Rowan has also been pulling Leanne away from partner Nick Tilsley and even her sister Toyah Battersby during her time of need.

Rowan has been putting pressure on Leanne to invest more and more money into The Institute, as well as recruit new members from the cobbles. In a shock twist, Rowan was recently revealed to be recording everything Leanne was saying without her knowledge and things took an even more worrying turn when he created an AI version of Leanne’s late son Oliver, who tragically died in 2020 after a battle with mitochondrial disease.

Toyah and Nick have been concerned for Leanne and extremely sceptical of Rowan. In recent scenes, The Institute and Rowan have made Toyah’s life a misery after she tried to expose them and they caught her having an affair with Nick. On Friday’s episode, Rowan tried to blackmail Nick into investing £40,000 into The Institute and as his back was turned, Toyah managed to grab his driving licence and reverse image the picture of him.

Later, Toyah revealed her findings to Nick as they then sat down a stunned Leanne. The duo revealed Rowan’s real name as Luke, adding he was previously arrested for burglary and assault even going to prison. Despite having a newspaper article to back up their claims, Leanne said it was fake to which Toyah pointed out it was real and it is in fact Rowan who is fake.

As Rowan continues to isolate Leanne from her family and shows more worrying signs, Toyah star Georgia Taylor has teased the character’s downfall. Talking about Rowan being exposed, Georgia said: “It’s going to be so good to play”, adding: “But I have to say, I’m loving working with Emrhys [Cooper, who plays Rowan].

“We’ve had quite a few scenes now where they have a big stand off and they’re so delicious. Everything he’s doing is just so understated but really creepy at the same time, and subversive. He’s an absolute delight to be on set with, he’s such a nice man in real life so I don’t want it to be too soon but when he is taken down, I want it to be something massive and dramatic and humiliating.”