Christmas is always an emotional time in Weatherfield and this year will be no different for beloved Coronation Street residents Peter Barlow (played by Chris Gascoyne) and Carla Connor ( Alison King ).
Fans already know Peter will be leaving the cobbles in the coming months and it seems an emotional conversation with his partner could be the trigger for his exit.
Coronation Street boss Iain MacLeod has confirmed the pair will feature in a special two-hander episode on Boxing Day which will focus on their relationship and what they want in the future.
It's likely this emotional showdown which will push Peter to leave the Barlow clan and strike out on his own.
Speaking to press including OK!, Iain divulged: "What we wanted to do with Peter was try and play the reality of a man whose got demons, it's fair to say, and a history of alcoholism and depressive episodes.
"His reaction to what he did to Stephen, the kind of battle within himself to get straight in his own mind whether or not it was justified, whether or not it was necessary, how much of it was actually informed by his anger over what Stephen did to Carla, was there an element of revenge there.
"It puts him on the rack a bit, emotionally speaking. We were very clear when we started this chapter that we didn't want him to fall off the wagon again.
"You won't see that again. We thought it was important as a transplant recipient that he didn't drink again because we were worried about the messaging around that.
"But it won't mean he won't profoundly struggle psychologically with his demons, as we spoke about, and that will start to impact on his level of happiness in Coronation Street.
"There's a few explosive Peter Barlow outbursts that start to bring to Carla's attention that he's really not okay. They find themselves at this enormous fork in the road.
"They love each other but perhaps their happiness is no longer reliant on each other. Which is to say, maybe they start to wonder if they would be happier somewhere, in some other situation somewhere else.
"It all builds up to this surprising Christmas Day episode and then there's a huge two-hander between them more or less.
"It's a greatest hits compilation for those who have been big fans of Peter and Carla from the start that picks over every single detail of who they are, what they've been as a couple, what they want for their futures, and what happiness looks like for each of them.
"As we know, it's building towards an exit for Peter that's really brilliant and bittersweet and feels like Corrie at it's very best."
Iain continued: "We often think of Peter and Carla as the Burton and Taylor of the cobbles and we wanted it to have this grand-scale, highly emotional, very nuanced, very realistic ending, which is what the writers have achieved."
"It's the culmination of a decades long relationship," he concluded.
Fans will no doubt be disheartened to learn this Christmas could spell the end for the couple but Carla won't be alone for long.
Bosses have already confirmed she'll be stunned when her brother Rob Donovan's son Bobby (Jack Carroll) arrives.
He lands in Weatherfield just after Christmas and is looking for a place to stay and it's not long before he's running rings around his Aunty Carla.
Coronation Street airs Monday, Wednesday and Friday on ITV at 8pm.
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