Carl couldn’t believe his luck this week as he overheard Theo lamenting his decision to leave Billy Mayhew to die in the Corriedale crash. The Weatherfield love rat was already at odds with Theo after witnessing him berate Debbie over the accident, so was pleased to have uncovered some major dirt on him.

In Wednesday’s episode, Carl starts to play games by finding a quiet moment to approach Theo on the day of Billy’s funeral. He leaves Theo fearful with veiled remarks about what he knows.

Later, though, Carl finds himself in a terrible predicament of his own. Now it’s Theo’s turn to catch him up to no good, which makes the dynamic even messier.

Dramatic scenes see masked robbers descend on the Chariot Square Hotel, confronting Ryan Connor at the reception desk and ordering him to hand over cash.

With poor Ryan outnumbered, he’s subjected to a nasty beating and is hugely grateful when Carl miraculously arrives to intervene. Once the robbers have been scared off, Carl calls the police and reports that £3,000 is now missing from the hotel’s safe.

As is usually the case with Carl, everything isn’t quite as it seems. Theo later spots Carl in cahoots with the robbers, paying them for their hard work. It seems that Carl has pulled off another ruthless financial scam, with the added bonus of winning Ryan’s trust.

Theo takes a photo of Carl’s furtive meeting and wastes no time before threatening him with it. He doesn’t know exactly what’s going on, but can tell that Carl is up to something dodgy.

“You bully my sister again and I’ll rip your throat out,” Carl warns. “And I’ll tell your mates about your guilty conscience. I heard you snivelling, but don’t you know that corpses can’t forgive? Question is, though, will Todd?”

Calling Carl’s bluff, Theo replies: “Why don’t you tell him? And you might end up in a box…”

Is Carl underestimating Theo? Or is he about to turn the tables on him?