Daniel Osbourne (Rob Mallard) has reached breaking point in Coronation Street amid his trolling ordeal.
The floor fell from beneath his feet when Sam Blakeman (Jude Riordan) addressed his concerns about Daniel’s girlfriend Megan Walsh’s (Beth Nixon) relationship with teenager Will Driscoll (Lucas Hodgson-Wale).
He was present when police arrested her, and was totally convinced by her insistence that Will just had a schoolboy crush.
At this point, Megan was pregnant. She hoped that police would believe Daniel was the father, and that she’d decided to keep it from him for fears that he wasn’t ready to become a parent again.
Kit Green (Jacob Roberts) explained that the only real way to prove her innocence would be to undertake DNA testing, though Adam Barlow (Sam Robertson) – who was acting in her defence – reminded him that she couldn’t be forced to undertake the assessment.
Later, Eva Price (Catherine Tyldesley) revealed the pregnancy news to Daniel. He wanted answers from Megan, and was in disbelief when she refused to follow his wishes and complete the DNA test.
He spelled out that, until she did, their relationship was over.
In the last few weeks, Will has admitted to the abuse and Daniel has been on the receiving end of torment from his pupils. Hope Dobbs (Isabella Flanagan) purposely mocked him in the corridors, and when he retaliated, she accused him of assaulting her.
He was suspended, and spent the following weeks hiding away in his flat, telling his family that he was on holiday in the Lake District. Daniel has also fallen victim to a cruel online hate campaign, with someone under the name of Truthteller penning vile posts about him.
In today’s episode, he stirred on the sofa, clearly unable to sleep. New housemate Jodie Ramsey (Olivia Frances Brown) realised that Truthteller hadn’t actually written anything for a while, and that other people seemed to have jumped on the bandwagon.
Daniel was somewhat relieved that the instigator had stopped, but the ordeal wasn’t over. While visiting dad Ken Barlow (William Roache), a group of lads hurled insults and squirted him with bottles of ketchup, filming his reaction as he threatened to kill them.
Later, trying to cool off with a curry in Speed Daal, he noticed newcomer Idris Nazir (Junade Khan) watching the footage and laughing, and he lashed out. Plates went flying across the floor, and Daniel rushed home.
Jodie tried to calm him down, and Ken ushered young Bertie (Henry Duggan) into the bedroom as Daniel continued to kick off.
He then threw the TV remote control across the room, and Ken screamed out for him to stop.
When will Daniel’s torment end?
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Coronation Street airs weeknights at 8:30pm on ITV1 or can be streamed from 7am on ITVX.
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