Coronation Street’s 11 most murderous storylines

Coronation Street is apparently the most dangerous place to live in the country, according to research done by Buzz Bingo.

But what makes it so dangerous? Could it be all the murders that occur on those innocent-looking cobbles?

From serial killers to one-off murders that sparked a terrifying and destructive chain of events, these are the Street’s most murderous storylines to date…

1. Pat Phelan’s murder spree

Pat Phelan’s (Connor McIntyre) reign of terror has widely been cited as the most dark storyline Corrie has ever had.

It began during his first stint on the soap between October 2013 and April 2014 when he raped Anna Windass (Debbie Rush).

Phelan then returned in 2016 and caused the death of Michael Rodwell (Les Dennis). Then viewers thought he’d murdered Andy Carver (Oliver Farnworth), but he was secretly keeping him prisoner.

He eventually did murder Andy, but only after getting Andy to kill Vinny Ashford (Ian Kelsey). Luke Britton (Dean Fagan) was his next victim.

When Eileen Grimshaw (Sue Cleaver) finally, finally found out what her husband was up to, she pushed him into the Irish sea. But he returned and stabbed his daughter Nicola Rubenstein (Nicola Thorp) and Michelle Connor (Kym Marsh), before Anna stabbed and killed him. For real this time.

The show was criticised for how dark it had become during the Phelan months, most notably by TV veteran Michael Parkinson.

Read more: Coronation Street’s 13 biggest plot twists

2. Richard Hillman – businessman turned killer

Before Phelan, there was Hillman, Richard Hillman (Brian Capron), the third husband of Gail Rodwell (Helen Worth), who was on the cobbles from 2001 to 2003 and was responsible for three deaths.

Richard had the entire street fooled with his nice guy act, but was actually in mountains of debt and had a very shady past.

He left business partner Duggie Ferguson (John Bowe) to die after Duggie plunged down several flights of stairs when a banister gave way at their joint housing development. Richard then killed his ex-wife, Patricia Hillman, and then after convincing everyone Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls) was going senile and trying to kill her in a house fire, Richard set his sights on Emily Bishop (Eileen Derbyshire).

He attacked Emily with a crowbar, but Maxine Peacock (Tracy Shaw) caught him in the act so he killed Maxine instead.

The truth always comes out and when it did, he confessed his crimes to Gail who was horrified. Richard went on the run, but returned two weeks later in March 2003 to kill his family and himself.

He kidnapped Gail and her kids David (Jack P Shepherd) and Sarah Platt (Tina O’Brien) and drove them into the canal in a bid for them to all die together. Fortunately, they survived and he perished.

John Stape – the unlikely serial killer

If Richard Hillman was a man you wouldn’t expect to be a cold-blooded killer, then you’d never in a million years suspect wet-lettuce John Stape (Graeme Hawley).

A series of unfortunate events led to him being the Street’s latest serial killer before he died in 2011.

Meek and mild teacher John had an affair with teenage Rosie Webster (Helen Flanagan), causing him to lose his job and marriage, and go off the rails.

To get back on his feet, he stole his friend, Colin Fishwick’s (David Crelin) identity, but when Colin found out he confronted John and his friend Charlotte Hoyle (Becky Hindley) before dying of a brain hemorrhage. John and Charlotte buried the body in Underworld, which was having building work done.

As Charlotte became more crazy and started to blackmail John, he ended up killing her and covering it up pretending she’d died in the tram crash in 2010.

He also caused Colin’s elderly mother to have a heart attack and die by confessing his crimes.

After he held Chesney Brown (Sam Aston), and Charlotte’s parents hostage, Fiz (Jennie McAlpine) discovered everything and handed John into the police. He escaped and was later involved in a car accident and died from his injuries.

4. Karl Munro kills Sunita Alahan after setting fire to the pub

Karl Munro (John Michie) ruined his own life by having an affair with Sunita Alahan (Shobna Gulati) behind Stella Price’s (Michelle Collins) back.

After Stella kicked him out and fell for Jason Grimshaw (Ryan Thomas) Karl decided to split them up by framing Jason for arson.

Karl let himself into the Rovers and started a fire in the cellar, but Sunita caught him in the act. A struggle broke out and Sunita fell down the steps and was knocked unconscious. Karl left her and fled, but he had no idea Stella was also inside the pub.

As the flames took hold, Karl found out Stella was upstairs and tried to rescue her, but they got stuck and firefighters Toni (Tara Moran) and Paul (Tony Hirst) had to save them. But Toni died when the roof collapsed, meaning Karl was responsible for her death.

Sunita was taken to hospital where Karl set about framing her for the fire. But when he discovered she was regaining consciousness, he visited her and removed her oxygen tube, killing her before she could reveal the truth about him.

It eventually came out when it was revealed Craig Tinker (Colson Smith) had seen Karl leave the Rovers that night, making his alibi of being in the Bistro all night invalid.

Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkisan) followed Karl into the pub to get a confession out of him, but Karl threatened to start another fire and ended up taking Dev and Stella hostage. Stella convinced him to hand himself in and Karl was sentenced to 28 years for his crimes.

5. Callum Logan’s death

Callum Logan (Sean Ward) was a nasty piece of work drug dealer who came back into ex Kylie Platt’s (Paula Lane) life and stirred things up big time.

Although she finally managed to kick him to the curb, he continued to harass the family, even getting involved with Kylie’s sister-in-law, Sarah, and getting her pregnant.

Sarah tried to record Callum confessing to his misdeeds so they could get rid of him in September 2015, but he worked out what she was doing and attacked her. Just as he was about to rape her, Kylie returned home and hit him over the head with a wrench.

Instead of claiming self-defence and calling the police, they called David and the three of them buried Callum’s body in the building work going on in Gail’s granny annex. His body was discovered in May 2016.

The aftermath of his death was huge, Sarah gave birth and was diagnosed with post-partum psychosis as a result of the trauma of covering up Callum’s death, and Tony Stewart (Terence Maynard) was eventually blamed for the murder. But ultimately, Kylie was about to pay the biggest price possible for killing her ex…

6. Kylie Platt’s murder

If Callum had never arrived on the cobbles, Kylie would never have died. Cal and Kylie’s friend Gemma Winter (Dolly-Rose Campbell) had arrived in Weatherfield and was trying to start a new life, but Callum’s cronies Clayton Hibbs (Callum Harrison) and Macca (Gareth Berliner) had followed her to the Street.

Kylie had decided she needed to get away from the spectre of Callum following her everywhere and along with David and the kids they were moving to Barbados to be with her sister Becky (Katherine Kelly).

But when she saw Gemma being assaulted by Clayton, she ran over to help and he fatally stabbed her. Kylie died on famous cobbles in David’s arms.

Her murder caused David to go on a murderous rampage of his own, trying to blow up the court while Clayton was standing trial, killing Clayton and himself. He failed after his family locked him up to stop him, but managed to escape. He crashed his car on the way to carry out his plan and ended up engulfing Anna Windass in flames. She survived, but suffered life-changing burns.

7. Rob Donovan kills Tina McIntyre and lets Peter take the blame

Villain Rob Donovan (Marc Bayliss) arrived on the cobbles fresh out of prison and determined to turn his life around. But he was doomed as soon as he got involved with Tracy Barlow.

Together they started peddling stolen goods and when Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan) found out, she threatened to go to the police. Coupled with the fact Tina was having an affair with Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne), who was married to Rob’s sister Carla Connor (Alison King) and Rob wanted to protect his sibling, he decided Tina needed silencing.

He didn’t initially plan to kill her, but after an argument he accidentally pushed her over the balcony. When she survived that fall and said she’d tell the police he’d pushed her deliberately, he decided he might as well finish the job and battered her with an iron bar. Tina died in hospital after swelling on the brain.

Rob was determined he wouldn’t be caught though and let prime suspect Peter take the blame. As Peter faded away in prison, Rob happily planned his wedding to Tracy.

The night before the nuptials, Rob confessed to Carla and ended up jilting Tracy and going on the run. Trace put the final nail in his coffin and told the police where he was, resulting in his arrest.

Rob went down for 25 years, but has been blackmailing and plotting from behind bars and even staged an escape, hiding out with Tracy for a while.

8. Frank Foster murdered by his mother

Carla Connor got engaged to new co-owner of Underworld Frank Foster (Andrew Lancel) when her real love, Peter Barlow rejected her.

But her heart was never really in their relationship and she eventually confessed she didn’t want to marry him, calling the engagement off. But Frank became aggressive and pinned her against the wall, hitting her twice.

He then went on to rape her.

As he’d previously tried to force himself on Maria Connor (Samia Longchambon), Carla called her and they went to the police. Frank was arrested and it went to trial, but he walked free.

He didn’t go unpunished though, his own mother, Anne Foster (Gwen Taylor) killed him.

Anne kept quiet for months, and Carla, Peter, and Sally Metcalfe (Sally Dynevor) were all in the frame for the murder, but Anne eventually confessed at Frank’s funeral that she’d overheard him taunting Carla about the rape and, blaming her son for the death of his father, she ended up hitting him over the head with a whiskey bottle when he got nasty with her.

9. Tracy Barlow kills Charlie Stubbs in revenge for his affair

Tracy is not a woman to be messed with, so proven when she killed boyfriend Charlie Stubbs (Bill Ward) for cheating on her.

He had been having an affair with Maria and Tracy plotted a very elaborate scheme, making people believe Charlie was hitting her and had been abusive to her.

She then hit him over the head with a statue and used David Platt as a false alibi. Never mess with Mr P though as he started blackmailing her, and eventually she was found guilty of murder and handed a life sentence.

Luckily for Trace, though, she ended up free after three years because the forensic expert on her case was exposed as a fraud. She’s been back bothering Weatherfield residents ever since, but thankfully has never killed anyone else.

10. Katy Harris kills her dad Tommy Harris

Katy Harris (Lucy-Jo Hudson) was pregnant with much-older man Martin Platt’s (Sean Wilson) baby when her dad Tommy Harris (Thomas Craig) lied that Martin was having an affair and persuaded Katy to have an abortion.

When Katy found out the truth she hit an unrepentant Tommy over the head with a wrench and he died.

Her mum, Angela (Kathryn Hunt) took the blame, but Katy felt so guilty she couldn’t cope and wrote a note telling the truth before taking her own life with a sugar drink, fatal because she had diabetes.

11. Ali Neeson kills Ronan Truman

We’re yet to see just how murderous this storyline will become, but Ali Neeson (James Burrows) killed gangster Ronan Truman just last year.

Despite being an upstanding GP, Michelle Connor’s (Kym Marsh) biological son wanted to protect his family who drug dealer Ronan had been threatening them.

After a car chase, they all crashed and Ronan became impaled on a tree. As Ali tended to him before the emergency services arrived, Ronan continued his threats to kill all of Ali’s family.

Ali took the opportunity to get rid of Ronan for good and pulled the tree stump out of his chest, killing him instantly.

He’s since struggled with the guilt, but whether he’s set to be the Street’s next serial killer remains to be seen…

Read more: Coronation Street’s 9 best cameos

What do you think Corrie’s most murderous storyline has been? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think.