Coronation Street‘s Lauren Bolton learned a shocking new bombshell from her father Reece Bolton after paying him a visit in prison.

Tonight’s episode (23 April) began with Lauren at the hospital getting an update on her son Frankie. The doctor informed her that the transplant went well, much to her relief. Shortly after a nurse arrived with a package addressed to Frankie that left Lauren visibly shaken.

Lauren dashed out of the ward and viewers saw her next arriving during visitor time at the prison, keen to chat to dad Reece Bolton (a returning Scott Anson).

It turned out that it was Reece who had sent his grandson a present – a baby kangaroo.

“I sent it to the baby bank,” Lauren tells her dad, who snaps back: “Ungrateful cow.”

The conversation soon turned to Lauren’s tough childhood and her dad’s failings to look after her, with her unable to understand how she could have been treated like that as a mother now herself.

“I look at Frankie and I see all the things I missed out on,” she told Reece, who responded: “If I’m that terrible I dunno why you bothered coming.”

Lauren then revealed the reason behind her visit: “To tell you to your face that I don’t want you anywhere near my Frankie.”

Reece, clearly angered by Lauren’s warning, then took the opportunity to hurt her with a shock bombshell.

“You do know I’m probably not your dad, we never bothered with the DNA or aught,” he told Lauren, adding that her mother was unfaithful with other men.

Lauren had the last laugh though, seeming unbothered by the news, telling Reece: “I’m building a family, I’ve got friends that have got my back now.”

Lauren then left Reece and headed back to the hospital to get an update on Frankie via a nurse.

Later, viewers saw her have a heart-to-heart with Roy Cropper at the cafe, where she told him about her visit to the prison to see Reece and the paternity news he shared.

Roy said it could be Reece playing “cruel mind games” and that she could seek out a DNA test if she wanted to get the truth.

However, Lauren had already made her mind up on the subject of her father, sweetly telling a touched Roy: “I think I’ll just pretend that you’re my dad if that’s okay with you.”