Ben and Maggie on Coronation Street on March 12, 2026 / ITV
Coronation Street star Aaron McCusker has explained how his character Ben is feeling after his paternity revelation.
In episodes broadcast earlier this week, Ben’s mum Maggie (Pauline McLynn) admitted the truth that his dead dad Alan was not his biological father – and it was instead the late Jim McDonald (Charles Lawson).
The revelation means that he and Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) are half-brothers, while their kids Ollie (Raphael Akuwudike) and Amy (Elle Mulvaney) – who almost started dating – are actually cousins.
“He’s stunned and he’s also livid, made worse by the fact he can’t go back and talk to the man who he always thought was his dad because he’s dead,” said McCusker, who has been on the soap since last Autumn. “That makes it much more tough to take because he isn’t able to talk about it and he was very close to Alan. He also finds out that Alan knew he wasn’t Ben’s dad and still stuck by Maggie and that endears him to Alan even more.
“He has a huge argument with Maggie then he goes straight out to the bar and gets stuck into the whiskeys. His mum has lied to him again and this doesn’t come long after the fact that she tried to ruin Christmas Day with the whole baby thing. Ben just wonders when are the lies going to stop. “
On whether Ben can ever forgive his meddling mother, he continued: “Let’s be honest, he’s forgiven his mum for quite a lot already! He threw her out of the house on Christmas Day, then let her back in.
“He sits back 50% of the time and lets her get away with how she treats Eva and he does realise that she was a single mother and sacrificed a lot to bring him and Fin up.
“But maybe it will go a different way this time, I think it will take a while to get over this but time’s a healer so I hope in the end they will be alright. You only get one mum so we’ll see.”
New episodes of Coronation Street are released weekdays at 7am on ITVX and also air the same night at 8.30pm on ITV1.
