Coronation Street star Jane Hazelgrove has hinted that her character Bernie's newly-discovered son Kit (Jacob Roberts) could be harbouring a darker side.
Last month Bernie admitted that she had another secret son whom she gave up for adoption after he was born as she was already struggling to manage with twins Gemma (Dolly-Rose Campbell) and Paul (Peter Ash).
Having decided to find him, eventually she managed to track Kit down - and was surprised to discover that he was a police officer who had recently been transferred to Weatherfield to work on the case of the murder of Lauren (Cait Fitton).
In last week's episodes, duty solicitor Joel (Calum Lill) was revealed to viewers to be the murderer - but a series of furtive glances between Kit and Joel has led fans to speculate that Kit could somehow be involved too.
Now Hazelgrove has given possible weight to those theories by describing Bernie's son as "not as decent as she hoped he would be".
"I believe Bernie would love to begin building a relationship with Kit and try to fix all of her wrongs," she said. "Unfortunately Bernie has to accept that he's furious with her, and with good reason, so she must realise that a reconciliation might not be what he wants.
"She has always imagined what he would be like but I think she perhaps realises that he's not as decent as she had hoped he would be so she also now needs to face the reality of what and who he is rather than the imagined son she's always kept in her head and heart for all of these years."
In the coming weeks and months, as Kit becomes more familiar to Gemma and Paul, Bernie will start to worry that he could in some way end up damaging her relationship with the twins.
"Bernie definitely realises that this is now a possibility which isn't ideal given the horrible circumstances with Paul's illness and the timing is of course not great," Hazelgrove explained.
"Bernie knows she's got to play the hand she's now been dealt with the best she can and try to make amends. She also doesn't want to hurt the kids any more than they already have been."
Coronation Street continues Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
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