With Christmas around the corner it can mean only one thing - misery and murder in soap land.
And it looks like Coronation Street will be following the time honoured tradition of trying to shock and alarm soap fans on Christmas Day as viewers will be forced to swallow down grisly scenes while trying to digest their festive dinner.
Fans of the ITV soap can expect to see tense scenes when Derek Milligan (played by Craig Els) equips himself with a shotgun and hits the cobbles, fully intent on raining mayhem and death on the residents of Weatherfield.
Desperate Derek turns violent after being pushed to his limits by loan shark Gary Windass (played by Mikey North) - but innocent locals get caught in the middle of the violent fighting.
The filming process of the scenes sounds like it was quite intimidating itself, as Corrie stars worked in the dead of night to create the drama filled episode.
“It was interesting filming at 4am and to give a semblance of a performance without falling asleep,” Mikey, 33, admitted.
“Craig who plays Derek is lovely – we’re all very fond of him he gives a fantastic performance, his drunk acting is second to none; he manages to look absolutely smashed! Maybe he was?” he joked.
“In the Rovers, Derek threatens everyone with the gun, Gary interrupts and says ‘take me, lets do this outside’. He pulls him out the pub and they venture into Winter Wonderland and a shootout ensues with the rest of the street. He’s after most people,” the soap star continued.
It has already been confirmed that at least one Corrie regular will be gunned down and killed in the blood splattered episode of the once gentil tea-time soap.
The Corrie Christmas trailer shows the stars of the show all gathered in the Rover’s Return exchanging tense looks at each other underneath threatening lighting and with the menacing soundtrack of Michael Buble’s rendition of the festive classic Saga Claus Is Comin’ to Town.
The trailer ends with Gary opening a beautifully gift wrapped gift box - only for him to look concerned when he realises it contains a single golden.
It’s been a tough year for Corrie with a number of high profile stars deciding to quit the soap.
Kym Marsh who plays Michelle Connor, Faye Brookes who plays Kate Connor, Katie McGlynn who plays Sinead Tinker, Tristan Gemmill who plays Robert Preston, Lucy Fallon who plays Bethany Platt, and Brooke Vincent who plays Sophie Webster, all decided to quit the show over the past year.
The Coronation Street Christmas Day episode will air on ITV on December 25 at 8pm and run for a full hour.
