Leanne Battersby forced to make a devastating choice by The Institute in Coronation Street
CORONATION Street’s Leanne Battersby is forced to make a devastating choice in the soap’s latest cult storyline.
Soap fans have seen as Leanne (Jane Danson) has been further indoctrinated by The Institute in recent weeks.
Leanne is being targeted by cult leader Rowan Cunliffe (Emrhys Cooper) who has been drawing her deeper into the fray by pretending to give her son back.
In terrifying scenes, Leanne showed her partner Nick Tilsley an AI version of her dead son, Oliver, who she has been speaking to. The computer generated version of her child was the age that Oliver would have been if he was still alive.
She had been withdrawing from her family and friends to talk to AI Oliver online.
And in new scenes airing next week, Rowan will continue to isolate Leanne.
Viewers will see her make the devastating choice to distance herself from her sister Toyah Battersby (Georgia Taylor) while she is in hospital undergoing surgery. Rowan assures Leanne she’s doing the right thing by distancing herself from Toyah’s operation and looking after number one.
Mortified, it’s Nick who’s by Toyah’s side.
Meanwhile, Leanne’s focus is on The Institute, as Amy Barlow (Elle Mulvaney) tells her she’s looking to invest her inheritance in the new resource centre, but she’ll need the sign-off from Ken (William Roache).
Back in the hospital, the consultant approaches Nick with news. He calls Leanne, telling her that Toyah has suffered complications and she needs to get there as soon as possible.
But Rowan doesn’t let her go without a fight and continues to try to drive a wedge between Leanne and her family.
Rowan corners Leanne to talk about Amy’s decision, but when she asserts that she hasn’t time to discuss it as she’s off to visit Toyah, he worries that he’s losing his grip on her.
He must target her another way.
After Leanne reunites with her sister at the hospital, things get more complicated as Nick confides in Toyah that he loves her and plans to break the news to Leanne.
Meanwhile, Nick listens to a message from Rowan telling him to cough up the £20k investment or he’ll spill the beans about his affair.
Later in the week, Simon Barlow (Alex Bain) invites Leanne to visit him in Rotterdam, but Rowan tries to keep her close and tells Leanne that the Institute wants to fast-track her to level 8, leaving her torn.
Nick urges Leanne to go see Simon – but will she listen?
