It comes as Max confessed to killing Lauren’s groomer Joel Deering in the ITV soap’s latest scenes

Coronation Street star Paddy Bever has explained why Lauren Bolton has a ‘hold’ over Max Turner as he’s charged with Joel Deering’s murder. The teen was only recently put in the frame for the solicitor’s death but has now admitted to killing him in shocking scenes.

Several Weatherfield residents have found themselves in the frame after Joel’s body was found floating down a river last month and it was revealed he’d actually been killed by heavy weapon before entering the water.

Joel’s wronged ex Dee-Dee Bailey, her dad Ed and Uncle Ronnie are all on the suspects’ list. Bad boy Mason Radcliffe also found himself in the frame along with DS Lisa Swain, who was removed from the case after Joel’s involvement with her daughter Betsy was revealed, and the detective investigating the mystery himself DC Kit Green.

Earlier this week, Corrie viewers saw Lisa arrested by Kit and questioned at the station after her CS spray was found alongside a bloodied brick thought to be the new murder weapon. With all the evidence now pointing in her direction, a panicked Carla Connor pleaded Lisa’s case to Roy Cropper.

Ed was also in the café at the time and claimed there was more to come to light after Dee-Dee, who confessed to hitting Joel with a crowbar but left him alive, had said she’d confronted Joel after seeing him with a suitcase in tow attempting to do a runner after initially faking his own death.

Then, in another revealing flashback, viewers saw Carla leaving the factory on the night Joel disappeared. At first, viewers thought she herself may have something to hide as she was included in the suspects’ line-up. But as she called out to someone, it was Max and Lauren who were revealed to be outside No.8 Coronation Street in the dead of night putting a suitcase into the boot of David Platt’s car.

During Wednesday night’s episode (November 13), Lisa confided in Carla that she believed she was being framed by Joel’s killer, and she was terrified that more planted evidence would turn up. Using what she knows, Carla confronted Max and Lauren only for them to keep up their story that they were planning to do a runner to evade Joel.

But Carla reported them to the police and while they planned to go on the run, Lauren told Max she couldn’t go through with it because of baby Frankie. He convinced her to take him with them but he ended up confessing to Kit that he had murdered Joel. He revealed how he had confronted him using Lisa’s CS spray, only to have been overpowered by Joel, who strangled him while holding him over the edge of a bridge.

Max recalled how he picked up a rock and hit Joel with it, before pushing his body into the river below and running off with his suitcase. Following his confession, Max was charged with murder but with Joel’s killer set to be revealed later this week, is Max telling the truth.

Meanwhile, back at Dee-Dee’s flat, Lisa quizzed Lauren about Max’s confession, asking her if she had anything to do with Joel’s death. Lauren insisted that she didn’t, before admitting that she suspected something strange was going on but had kept quiet because she loved Max.

Asked why Lauren appears to have a ‘hold’ over Max, Paddy shared: Lauren holds a lot of similarities to Max’s mum, Kylie. I think Max and Lauren have also experienced a similar trauma in terms of the fact that they were both radicalised into the far-right group and have a lot of shared experiences.

“I also think that Max holds on to people that he really loves and because he’s lost both of his parents, he has a real fixation on finding a family and building that around him. I think he sees Lauren as his family and you know, she’s the mother of Frankie, who he sees like a son, so he’s been building that proper family unit with her. He wants Frankie to have everything that he didn’t, which is another reason why he’s so protective of Lauren, but also he just really does love her. She’s his first love and I don’t think anyone else will ever compare to Max.”

With Max pleading that it was self defence to David, Paddy has teased there is still more to come in the story with Corrie’s big reveal of who really killed Joel on Friday (November 15). “Yeah, on Friday’s episode, you’ll be able to see what happens on the night Joel died,” he said. “So you will see it from the beginning to the end, get the full picture and everything will be made clear. And of course, it’s Coronation Street, so there’s bound to be a few twists and turns…”