OPINION: Coronation Street Need To Make Daniel Osbourne The Next Pat Phelan

There’s an issue with Coronation Street and a gaping, massive Pat Phelan-sized hole in the middle of the stories. The soap opera has been without a villain since the departure of Stephen Reid, the most recent serial killer, and we don’t mean someone along the lines of bully Mason.

And Daniel Osbourne, why not? After demonstrating his form, he is now being questioned on the possibility that he was responsible for Lauren Bolton’s abduction.

Roy Cropper quickly becomes the center of attention over Lauren, but wouldn’t it make for a compelling plot point if Daniel was present, admitting his guilt but keeping a deadly secret?

Daniel is the perfect candidate to be Coronation Street’s next serial killer if they’re searching for someone who has already turned dark on the cobbles.

A terrifying method to up the drama in the soap opera would be to let Daniel embrace his darkness.

Daniel would be different from a serial killer, who is typically an outsider who shows up on the cobbles and proceeds with their evil crimes.

He is the son of Ken Barlow. Even after trying to kill him, Ken still has the greatest affection for him.

He checks off every box Ken did: journalist, educator, and love rat.

With the occasional slip-up, Daniel has so far been able to conceal his inner darkness. He shoved Max and Ken down the steps at the same time.

There is no denying the darkness.

It’s now appropriate to allow him to accept it. Take a few lives. Reach unprecedented depths. Enjoy your kills, just as Meena did in Emmerdale.

After that, allow the first family of cobbles to explode.

If only the executives of Corrie would have the guts to act on it, there’s drama there just waiting to happen.

We need someone to take Daniel’s place as the villain. Even though viewers might be enjoying the comedic moments, issue-based plots, and low-stakes drama, Corrie has always been a mixed bag and might use some darkness.

It’s time to accept the obvious: Weatherfield needs another serial murderer.

Nothing revitalizes a program like a serial killer eliminating the deadwood left, right, and center, much like Pat Phelan and Richard Hillman did before him.

It is imperative that we shout at our television sets, pointing out to the gullible people of Cobbles that one of their neighbors is a murderer.

To be fair, when Geoff Metcalfe took Phelan’s place as the show’s regular villain in 2020, he did a pretty decent job at it.

But what has happened since then? If we’re being really honest, Stephen Reid’s insane antics were more comedy than murder.

Pat and Geoff are unlike everybody else, and that has to change.

Builder Pat, a bully boy, initially gained notoriety in 2013 after he threatened to have Anna Windass sleep with him in order to spare her son Gary Windass from prison after he had beaten Phelan.

In 2016, he made a comeback, pretending to be a different man attempting to put his life back together.

He moved in with Eileen, but it was quickly obvious that he was still sketchy when he announced his intention to sell a number of fake apartments. When Vinny Ashford, his business partner, stole the money, everything went wrong.

But Phelan was growing progressively darker.

He witnessed Michael Rodwell’s heart attack death. He killed Vinny, Luke Britton, and Andy Carver.

When his crimes were discovered, he was believed to have drowned after falling into the sea during a final confrontation with Eileen.

However, he returned.

On the day of Michelle and Robert’s wedding, he shot the bride while holding the cafe at gunpoint. Anna Windass ultimately fatally stabbed him.

As he passed away, Anna told him she had finally triumphed.

Was he truly dead, even though we watched his body zip up and be hauled away in an ambulance?

He appeared in a tale a while back, and Todd was said to have disposed of his ashes, but we don’t believe him at all!

Everything about this could be explained.

If Phelan’s rampage had gone awry, he had enough connections to have employed a private ambulance service to take his body.

He might have been working with the funeral home to make it appear as though the ashes belonged to him.

That would make a plot, wouldn’t it?

Is George Shuttleworth, Eileen’s new boyfriend and all-around nice guy, really Phelan’s little helper behind his back?

There are countless opportunities for interesting plots centered around a Phelan return.

Corrie, you have to either turn Daniel into a serial killer or raise Phelan from the grave. Both will work for us!