Coronation Street star confirms comeuppance for ‘unredeemable’ Megan

Sooner or later, justice always comes to Corrie. (Picture: Shutterstock/getty/ Metro)

Some villains are just too evil to change their ways. Coronation Street’s child groomer Megan Walsh is a prime example. Now Megan’s dirty secret is out, actress Beth Nixon reveals that the predatory teacher will receive justice – one way or another.

The monster is revealed. Now that everyone on the Street knows that doe-eyed, butter-wouldn’t melt athletics coach Megan Walsh has been grooming underage Will Driscoll (Lucas Hodgson-Wale) into a perverse ‘relationship’, she’s personal non-grata on the Cobbles.

Although Megan plays the victim and maintains she’s the victim of a schoolboy crush gone wrong, nobody believes her. The Driscolls are baying for her blood, and the Barlows want her to pay for her torment of Sam Blakeman (Jude Riordan) who she tried to bully into keep quiet about her predatory ways.

Now that Corrie’s murder Whodunnit story upon us, Megan is one of five potential victims who could be for the chop. With the end possibly in sight, actress Beth Nixon reflects on her time portraying the villain.

‘I mean, I love playing Megan because she’s so horrible. They’re my favourite types of characters to play. But I’ve loved it. It’s such a, like, there’s so much room to play with her because she just tells lies like they’re nothing. So there’s so many layers to the character.’

Megan has Will wrapped around her little finger.

‘I’ve loved playing Megan. And then the public reaction, I think obviously people hate her and, she’s a cow. But then it’s quite interesting because I think there’s people who are trying to understand her because we’ve never gone into why she’s doing the things that she’s doing.’

‘Like, why is she grooming young boys? There’s no justification because it’s unjustifiable, isn’t it, really? But I think that’s really nice from the storytelling point of view that there’s no point in justifying it, we don’t know why she’s doing it and it doesn’t matter.  So I think that’s great because it’s great for me because I can kind of just justify it as Megan, however she would.’

Beth raises a good point. The only thing missing from Megan’s story is motive.

Quite rightly, the story has been largely focused on Will’s experience and the perspective of his dad Ben Driscoll (Aaron McCusker) and his stepmother Eva Price (Catherine Tyldesley). There’s been little exploration of Megan’s past, or why she chooses to target the young and vulnerable.

The Driscoll family have been torn apart by Megan’s abuse of Will. (Picture: ITV)

‘I think that she doesn’t think that she’s doing anything wrong because she’s just so delusional.’ Beth explains.

‘But it’s been interesting to see the public try and figure out like, I wonder why she’s doing this? Why is she doing that? Like, it makes no sense, why would she do that? But it does make no sense because why would you be attracted to a child? ‘

‘Exactly like with Carl (Jonathan Howard), he’s a tortured soul. He’s had all of these things happen to him through his life. So you can kind of go, ‘oh yeah’. Whereas with Megan, which is great because you can go so far with her. She’s unredeemable. So you can just like go for it.’

Irredeemable is right. Even now her sickening crimes have come to light, the police have not been able to charge Megan because she was careful enough not to leave a shred of evidence – aside from the baby she was carrying.

While she told everyone that Daniel Osbourne (Rob Mallard) was the biological father, her relationship with the unfortunate Headmaster of Weatherfield High was only ever a cover for her grooming. Will was the father, and when his grandmother Maggie Driscoll (Pauline McLynn) attacked her in a fury, Megan had the perfect opportunity to have a termination in a secret and pretend she lost the baby due to the assault.

Megan used Maggie’s loss of temper do her advantage. (Picture: ITV)

‘I think she believes that she can talk herself out of anything. I think she just thinks that she can play everybody into the palm of her hand. She’s obviously a master manipulator and she turns the waterworks on and she victimises herself a lot. And if that doesn’t work, then she changes tact.’

‘So I think as it progresses, she does have moments of worry. But I think that she almost goes: “Right, my image that I’m building, get back into that, put the victim front on.” I think that she thinks she can worm her way out of it. And obviously, Will is key to that because if he starts admitting what’s been happening then it’s over pretty much because they don’t have any evidence, of course, at the moment. ‘

Will just might be the least of Megan’s problems.

Right now, Eva has teamed up with Leanne (Jane Danson) and Toyah Battersby to form a terrifying trio hellbent on getting a confession from the peadophile by any means necessary.

Unfortunately, all they did was manage to plant a tracker in Megan’s bag. Megan reported Eva to the police for assault, and rubbed salt in the wound by gloating to her face about sleeping with Will.

The girls’ first attempt to get Megan’s confession did not go well. (Picture: ITV)

Now more determined to prove Megan’s guilt than ever, the three women confront the abuser in tomorrow’s episode. But when things go south, Toyah loses her temper and makes things worse by punching the abuser in the nose!

Up until now, Megan’s underestimate the trio. Beth Nixon explains why.

‘They’re not natural kidnappers. They don’t know what they’re doing. They’re like: “oh, I don’t know”. Don’t get blood on me. Obviously, Eva’s like in her pink and in her heels, like dragging me down the street, like clippy clopping her heels. She just thinks, what are you going to do, seriously? And then obviously when Toyah hits her, she goes, right, I’ve got you now.’

Toya lashes out at Megan, (Picture: ITV)

‘You’ve assaulted me. I haven’t touched you, because she’s clever. She doesn’t attack anyone. Like, she just lets them do it to her. She winds them up and winds them up because then she can use that as ammunition.’

But there’s someone Megan underestimates at her peril. Maggie.

The acid-tongued landlady of the Rovers’ Return is prepared to go to drastic lengths to protect her family. She already killed her husband for threatening to expose the fact that Ben was secretly Jim McDonald’s love child.

That makes her a dangerous enemy indeed, which Megan will discover for herself in tomorrow’s episode. After escaping the wrath of Toyah, Leanne and Eva, she finds herself face to face will the killer granny.

Beth admits that Megan isn’t taking any chances.

‘Out of all the characters, I think Maggie is probably the one that Megan would be most scared of. She’s got a few secrets of Maggie’s. Like, she knows what she’s capable of. So I think, yeah, in a way she does get to her a little bit.’

We wouldn’t like to be in Megan’s shoes right now. (Picture: ITV)

‘But [Megan], again has got such a high opinion of herself that I think that she just thinks that she can outsmart her. And I think, if anything, if she goes head-to-head with her, then that makes Maggie look bad as well. Just using that again as ammunition. But yeah, I think she probably is a little bit scared. Quaking in her boots a little bit.’

So she should be. Megan is one of five cobbles villains who could be killed off in Corrie’s much anticipated murder week. There’s certainly no shortage of suspects. Is it curtains for Megan? Beth looks back on her time in the show.

‘It’s crazy. It’s crazy. This is my first TV job, so this is all, like, completely new to me. So, yeah, it’s just exciting. Like, when I watched the promo, then I was like, it looks like I’m in a movie. Yeah, it’s just amazing, I’ve had so much fun with it. And then especially doing Murder Week, like, it’s just honestly, like, one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had. So, yeah, I’m excited for you all to see it properly.’

So are we, Beth. So are we.

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