Coronation Street star Calum Lill has told fans of the ITV soap to buckle up again for the episodes ahead as his character Joel Deering pulls out all the stops to get away with murder.

Viewers have just discovered that Joel was Lauren Bolton's (played by Cait Fittin) mystery boyfriend - and is the one responsible for her violent death.

The innocent Roy Cropper (played by David Neilson) was originally in the frame for Lauren's murder, but now sex offender Nathan Curtis (played by Christopher Harper) has been wrongly charged with the teenager's death - and Joel Deering is his solicitor.

When asked by ITV about what's next for Deering, actor Lill replied: "I think he's trying to work out how many loose ends there could be and how to deal with them.

"Obviously, as a defence solicitor, he knows how to play the game and knows that there is reasonable doubt and that he needs to cancel out anything that could be tied down to him.

"But, you know, this is new territory for him. He might have been in a situation before where he's broken the law and not treated people very nicely. But this is new and I think he feels real concern. He has to make it stick on Nathan so no one ever suspects it could be Joel."

"He has to make it stick on Nathan so no one ever suspects it could be Joel"

As for how long Deering can stay one step ahead, Lill said: "I think the longer it goes on for, the more chance he's got of slipping up and I think he knows that.

"You can see that in him getting more and more anxious that the slightest thing could bring his world crumbling down around him, you know, even just the fact that he slept with Lauren. That's a breach of trust alone and will be enough to end his career and relationship plus murder on top of that, his life would be over, you know. Everything that he values in his life, his job, his fiancée, his freedom? So the stakes couldn't be higher. But when he panics, the more chance there is of something going wrong."

"I hope Joel's very good at hiding because I really enjoy coming to work, but for soap justice, I know that at some point he's going to be found out," Lill added.

Coronation Street airs on Virgin Media One and ITV on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

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