Coronation Street has revealed the identity of Gary Windass’s secret attacker after another week of drama on the cobbles.
This week, Gary’s future has become uncertain after he was the victim of a shocking attack that put him in a coma, without his loved ones knowing.
The mystery began this week when Gary (Mikey North), a long-standing character on the soap since 2008, rejected a kiss from neighbour Lou Michaelis (Farrel Hegarty) and she tried to blackmail him, secretly using his phone to send herself a suggestive text.
Meanwhile, Gary’s wife Maria (Samia Longchambon) grew suspicious and warned him that Lou couldn't be trusted.
Gary went to visit his mum Anna (Debbie Rush) and clear his head after the drama, but failed to return home. Maria’s suspicions were heightened when she received a text from Gary saying that he was staying at a friend’s place.
The alarm was raised when Gary had not been in contact for her son Liam's birthday, and Maria couldn’t track him down.
Meanwhile, viewers learned he was in a coma, with a shot showing Gary unconscious in a hospital bed with a mystery woman at his bedside.
While fans had been speculating about the events that led to Gary being in the hospital, a flashback revealed during Thursday night’s episode (11 July) that Lou had bashed him over the head using a blunt object during a heated dispute.
Thursday night’s episode began when Maria reported Gary missing at the police station, and DC Kit Green figures out Gary is in the hospital when he gets word of an unidentified coma patient. It was also shown that Lou had been posing as his wife at his bedside.
In the flashback scene, it was revealed that Lou had tried to blackmail Gary into giving her money so she could run away with the children. But Gary refused after she had falsely tried to convince his wife, Maria, that they were having an affair behind her back.
Gary threatened to call the police about the blackmail and told Lou he would have loaned her money if she hadn’t behaved that way. That was when Lou attacked him.
With Gary on the ground bleeding, Lou hid as Nina Lucas and Summer Spellman stumbled past, high on drugs after Aadi Alahan's party.
It was a dog walker who stumbled across an injured Gary and called an ambulance, while Lou feigned innocence and pretended to be Gary’s worried wife.
At his bedside, Lou apologised to him, saying that she had only wanted to stop him from going to the police. Moments after she left the room, viewers saw Gary’s eyes flicker open for the first time.
Coronation Street viewers have been sharing their shock at the scenes that unfolded during Thursday’s episode. One fan wrote on X/Twitter: “And there was me thinking it was one of Mick's mates that had done it..Wow.”
However, others have been unimpressed by the storyline, as one Reddit user wrote:
“Seriously, why did the writers go to all the lengths of pretending Gary was attacked by a ‘mystery assailant’ and treating the reveal like some incredible, jaw-dropping twist? Anyone with half a brain knows it was Lou.”
Another criticised the plot detail that Gary had been admitted to hospital under a different name, when he is well-known in the fictional Weatherfield town.
“Oh boy, what is sort of getting me, how come no one in the hospital knows who he is, because the whole street has been on that hospital,” wrote one Reddit user. “Asha, who seems to run that hospital, hasn't heard about this mystery guy and knows Gary has is missing and not put two and two together?”
It has been teased that next week, Lou’s husband, Mick Michaelis (Joe Layton), will escape from prison after being on remand since murdering Craig Tinker (Colson Smith).
Coronation Street continues on ITV1 and ITVX.
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