Corrie star confirms puppy farm discovery in Evelyn storyline
Coronation Street spoilers follow.
Coronation Street star Dame Maureen Lipman has confirmed that Evelyn Plummer's new storyline will lead to the discovery of an illegal puppy farm near Weatherfield.
Evelyn's big new plot begins this week, when she encounters a man mistreating his dog and angrily confronts him. Despite the angry villain, Terry, threatening to turn violent, Evelyn isn't put off from her mission and she ends up staging a dognapping, as she takes Terry's frightened dog from his van.
"Clearly the dog is frightened," Lipman said. "[Evelyn] is never one to stand by and let someone get away with something she perceives as injustice, and of course she is a dog lover so she is determined to rescue the dog."
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Explaining Evelyn's risky rescue, she continued: "First of all, she lets the dog out, she finds a way to get the dog out of the van, and takes it home and tries to persuade Tyrone that he should have a dog. I mean that's not entirely sensible really, the house is crammed full anyway and she has come home with a stolen dog!
"Cassie and Tyrone are a bit incredulous at what she has done and decide that the dog needs to go to the rescue centre."
With the rescued dog settling into the Plummer-Dobbs household under its new name, Taylor, Evelyn is left contemplating her next move – and her decision leads her into even more danger.
"She wants to track him down," Lipman said. "People keep saying, you can't just go in and say to the police, 'He's got an illegal puppy farm' because you need proper evidence, so she borrows a camcorder and she's in the charity shop when she spots him.
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"She follows him. He knows she's following him, and he turns on her."
The actress added that Evelyn's loved ones are all desperate to stop her from pursuing Terry after he threatens her twice, with Evelyn eventually realising that she may need to change her tactics.
"Evelyn's obviously scared to her boots, but she's not admitting that," Lipman said. "But when he threatens to hurt Tyrone if she continues, it is a real dilemma as she is so fond of Tyrone. She realises she has to take a step back to protect her family."
Lipman also revealed that it will be Evelyn's daughter, Cassie Plummer, who eventually finds the puppy farm – but what happens next remains to be seen.
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Corrie has been working with animal welfare charity the RSPCA on the puppy farm storyline, and Lipman revealed that she was shocked by some of the facts that she has discovered while working on the plot.
"I did some research of my own and was shocked by what I discovered," she said. "I had not realised that these puppies are sold for £2000 a throw and these people are not registered and they're earning billions with puppy farms springing up all over the place."
She also spoke about Lucy's Law, which means that people buying new puppies or kittens in England must get them directly from a breeder or a rescue centre, and said that she is pleased that the soap is "making more people aware".
Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.
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