Coronation Street is reportedly lining up a shocking new storyline involving Maggie Driscoll, Ben Driscoll and Steve McDonald. Though the mother-son duo, Maggie and Ben, have an obvious link, how will things tie in with Steve?

Beloved character Steve will get some devastating news on the ITV soap next week after he finds out that his father, Jim, has passed away. Though they had a fractured relationship, the news affects Steve greatly.

It seems that there might be another angle to this storyline, with RadioTimes reporting that Maggie shares a connection to Steve – though it won’t become apparent until the week of Jim’s funeral.

The report suggests that Maggie had an affair with Jim in the 1980s and subsequently gave birth to Ben as a result of the fling. Should the rumour be true, this would mean that Steve and Ben are half-brothers.

Though we’ll have to wait and see what happens, viewers already know from various flashbacks that Maggie had an affair at some point in her tumultuous marriage to Alan.

It was later revealed that she had killed Alan by pushing him down the stairs, with Finlay, who is yet to appear in the present day, witnessing the murder.

Viewers did notice, however, that Maggie seemed irked after Ben and Steve grew closer. In one line of dialogue, the nature of “Irish blood” was mentioned, and this led some fans to guess that the pair were related.

“Did the writer just plant the seed of Ben and Steve being brothers with the mention of Irish blood?” asked one fan on Reddit, while another added: “I’m fully convinced now that Jim McDonald will be revealed to be Ben’s real dad, making Ben and Steve brothers.”