Maggie Driscoll (Pauline MyLynn) has got more skeletons in her closet than Shuttleworth’s Independent Funeral Service. Now one of them will be revealed in Coronation Street, destroying her relationship with her son Ben Driscoll (Aaron McCusker) beyond repair…

Pauline McLynn may not be playing the cuppa-obsessed Mrs Doyle in Father Ted anymore, but some serious tea is about to be spilled in Corrie.

In a recent revelation that left fans flabbergasted, it was revealed that the acid-tongued landlady of the Rover’s return once had a steamy affair with the moustachioed Irish legend of the Cobbles that is the one and only Jim McDonald (Charles Lawson).

After the iconic Irish antihero recently died of pneumonia offscreen, Maggie attended his wake where she was recognised Jim’s old army buddy as ‘Jim’s big secret’.

What would Maggie do to keep this secret? Just about anything… including murder. Last Christmas, a special flashback episode took audiences back to a younger Maggie’s birthday, where she pushed her husband Alan to his death during a heated argument about her fling. Now we know who that fling was.

But Ben Driscoll is completely in the dark. All her life, Maggie has been fiercely protective of her family and worked hard to make sure that Ben never suspected the truth about his connection to Jim McDonald. Which makes it all the more hilarious that the Rovers’ landlord has struck up a bromance with Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson), without either one realising that they are actually half-brothers.

Now is not a good a time for a bombshell to drop. The Driscolls are still devastated after discovering that Will (Lucas Hodgson-Wale), Ben’s son and Maggie’s grandson, was groomed into a sexually abusive relationship by his predatory athletics’ coach Megan Walsh (Beth Nixon). Since Will is still brainwashed and desperate to be with Megan, the Driscolls have been desperately trying to help him see the light.

Discussing how his character Ben feels about this revelation, star Aaron McCusker said: ‘He’s absolutely gutted, he’s been through a stage of blaming himself, maybe he’s been too wrapped up in the move to Weatherfield, been stuck in the middle of the war between Maggie and Eva, focusing on his two other kids and it just slid by him. He’s disappointed in himself and he’s going out of his way now to try to make things better but with a teenage son it’s not easy and he’s going to have to work hard to repair the relationship.’

In Ben’s case, that means counselling and father/son heart-to-hearts. For Maggie, that means charging round to Megan’s flat like a bull in a China shop to put the fear of God into her.

Maggie’s fiery streak will be her downfall. Her frustration over Will’s refusal to acknowledge Megan’s abuse will put her at odds with Ben in upcoming episodes of Coronation, where a furious Maggie says something in anger that she can never take back. Something that will tear her entire family apart…

After Maggie’s violent attack on Megan only pushes Will further into his abuser’s arms, she becomes increasingly angry with her grandson for his continued defence of Megan. Hearing the altercation escalate, Ben steps in and calls Maggie out for trying to bully the truth out of Will.

When he snaps in anger that he would have been better off if she had died instead if his dad Alan, Maggie says something very incriminating which raises a giant red flag for Ben.

‘Ben won’t let it go, he says I need you to tell me what you were talking about and eventually she does’, Aaron added.

‘Maggie’s also being blackmailed by Melanie (the wife of Ben’s kids) who knows the truth from Ben’s brother who witnessed things and is using this to try to force Maggie to convince Ben to let Will go live with her. Eventually it all just gets too much for Maggie and she makes the decision to tell Ben herself. Then the truth comes tumbling out.’

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The next day, emotions are running high between mother and son, when Ben suffers a dizzy spell. Panicked, Maggie wants to call an ambulance but Ben insists she leave it and instead tell him the truth about his Dad. It’s judgment day for Maggie. Wil she come clean?

That would be telling. All I will say is the fallout of that conversation is seismic. Next week’s episodes will see a shaken Ben struggle to accept his new reality. In the Rovers, he stares at a photo of himself as a child with Alan. Eva assures him that Alan loved him. Then Maggie enters, and Ben makes it clear he wants nothing to do with her. This devastates Maggie to her very core.

Is there any chance of healing for mother and son? In an interview with Metro, Actress Pauline McLynn recently teased the epic cat-out-of-the-bag moment between Ben and Maggie, as well as its apocalypitc aftermath.

‘That’s a whole bag of hornets that’s just waiting to be unleashed. It’s a really big secret and I feel sorry for her sometimes in terms of growing up as a young mother, it was a certain time, certain era, it’s no wonder that it’s never been common knowledge that she had some sort of happenings with Jim McDonald him. Ben has made some remarks that hit a nerve and as bad as we think this turmoil is, I suspect there’ll be a lot more!’