Coronation Street's Debbie dealt with family betrayal amid dementia battle

Coronation Street's Debbie Webster (Sue Devaney) was left on the verge of tears as she was discovered a family member's betrayal during Wednesday's episode. As viewers of the ITV soap will know, earlier in the week, Abi Webster ( Sally Carman ) slept with her brother-in-law Carl (Jonathan Howard) after weeks of holding back her feelings.

It all came about after she had discovered that her husband Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell) had been lying to her about his cancer, having been given the all-clear months ago. She tried to pack her bags after her encounter with Carl, but was persuaded to stay by her stepson Jack (Kyran Bowes) and when the teenager spotted his Aunty Debbie on the Street, she coaxed the situation out of him.

The hotel owner, who was diagnosed with vascular dementia earlier this year, stormed round to number 13 to ask what she thought she was doing when her husband is so sick. She told Abi: "If anybody treated me the way you're treating my brother, it's disgusting! Shame on you. In sickness and in health, to death us do part. Does that ring any bells?"

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In the heat of the moment, Abi revealed the truth as she told a shocked Debbie: "Your precious, do-no-wrong brother has been lying to us all for weeks." Furious, Debbie marched over to the garage where Kevin was at work and yelled: "You're cancer- free!" Through tears, she added: "Of all the despicable things to do, to lie about something like that, when you know what I'm going through. What I've got. Shut your gob!"

Kevin tried to wriggle out of the situation, but Debbie was having none of it, as she coldly told him: "I'm sure you can justify giving me sleepless night after sleepless night. I don't want to know, because, that's the most liberating thing about having a terminal illness. You get to choose what you care about."

At that point,Debbie turned to her younger brother Carl, and quickly sussed out that he was also in on the lie. Before leaving the scene, the hotel manager looked Kevin in the eye and told him: "I hope you hold onto your wife, because you've just lost your sister."

Later on, Abi apologised to Kevin for telling Debbie the truth, but he took full responsibility for the situation. He added: "Can't blame our Debbie for disowning me, I bet you wish you'd left me now," although Abi did not give him a response.

Despite the major revelation, Debbie and Kevin are still unaware of Abi's infidelity. Earlier this week, Carl declared that their initial encounter was 'worth the wait' and they kissed Abi claimed that things with Kevin were over.

But later, in the Rovers, Carl did not seem so keen on the idea of Abi calling off her entire marriage as she weighed up what they had begun. As viewers will know, last week, Carl organised the theft of an expensive car and is aware that his brother could have him arrested at any moment. "Don't I deserve to be happy?" she asked him and he told her to go home to be with Kevin.

In the days before Kevin's brother arrived on the cobbles, the mechanic was famously married to Sally Metcalfe ( Sally Dynevor ) and they had daughters Rosie ( Helen Flanagan ) and Sophie ( Brooke Vincent ) together.

They initially split up when Kevin had an an affair with Natalie Barnes ( Denise Welch ) but they remarried in 2002. Their marriage survived numerous infidelities on both sides, but ultimately crumbled when Kevin fathered Jack with Molly Dobbs (Vicky Binns) before she died in the 2010 tram crash as part of the programme's 50th anniversary.

Carl is the son of Kevin's dad Bill Webster (Peter Armitage) and his second wife Elaine (Judy Gridley) and spent most of his life in Germany with his parents until he arrived on the Manchester backstreet earlier this year. In real life, Jonathan spent 10 years in LA and working alongside big-name stars including Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins, but the 38-year-old actor ranks landing a part in Corrie among his greatest achievements.

He told The Mirror : "Being in Coronation Street is just as big a thrill as being in a Hollywood film or an American TV series. It’s all the same, everyone’s telling stories, whether it’s a big $200m movie or a soap like Corrie. As a Lancashire lad born and raised, the dream was to be in Coronation Street – that was the ceiling, so it feels wonderfully surreal to now be acting with people like Kevin Webster that I watched religiously as a kid.

"My friends ask me, ‘what you have been up to today?’ and I reply ‘I took Tracy Barlow for a drink in the Rovers Return!’ It’s just incredible to say these things."

Coronation Street airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITV X. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , and Threads.