Coronation Street's Idris Nazir executes vicious plot against Carla Connor-Swain in early ITVX release

Carla Connor-Swain (Alison King) has declared "the end [of Underworld]" in Coronation Street.

It comes after ruthless property investor Idris Nazir (Junade Khan) executed a vile plan to force her to sell the 30 year old knicker factory.

Last week, Idris told girlfriend Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson) that he'd been eyeing up the business, and wondered what price he'd have to give Carla for her to sell up. Leanne insisted that she could never see a world where Carla would let go of the venture, given she's owned it for best part of two decades.

Despite that, he continued plotting.

Earlier this week, upon hearing that a crucial meeting was taking place at the Chariot Square Hotel to secure a client, he watched Carla and Underworld manager Michael Bailey (Ryan Russell) from afar before swooping in on the man during their absence.

He said that Carla couldn't be trusted, and that she wasn't the sort of person he should be dealing with if he wanted to keep his good reputation.

When the potential client returned to her, he said that despite his earlier enthusiasm he'd have to hold off on a concrete decision.

Carla was puzzled, and later that day, told wife Lisa (Vicky Myers) that because the deal hadn't gone through, she was going to have to sacrifice her workers' Christmas bonus. The future of the factory also depended on a large order being completed.

In today's episode, Idris secretly listened as Carla confide in Lisa at the café that she had been forced to scrap the bonus.

Later, Carla gathered the devastated workforce and admitted that she had been desperately struggling to keep the business afloat. Meanwhile, Idris was meeting with Brody just metres away behind the factory and, after handing him a lighter, revealed that he had a job for him.

Brody let himself into No.4 and stole foster mum Sally Metcalfe’s (Sally Dynevor) set of factory keys. After making sure nobody was around, he slipped into the deserted building, completely unaware that Leanne was watching him.

Once inside, he deliberately activated the sprinkler system before making his escape through the back door. Meanwhile, Sally had found Carla and Lisa in the Rovers and alerted them that the factory alarm had been triggered.

Rushing over the cobbles, the Connor-Swains were horrified to discover water pouring out from beneath the door, trickling down the walls and across the sewing machines.

Faced with the devastating damage, Carla surveyed the flooded premises and admitted to Lisa that the business had been left in ruins.

With the factory seemingly beyond saving, she has been forced to accept that there was nothing more she could do to rescue it.

Will Idris and Brody be caught?

Read more:

• Coronation Street's Jodie Ramsey star signs new one-year contract to keep playing villain
• Coronation Street star teases Debbie Webster's tragic final Christmas in Weatherfield as dementia story edges close to end
• Coronation Street favourite Vicky Myers reflects on Alison King's 20 years with soap amid huge night for Swarla fans

Coronation Street airs weeknights at 8:30pm on ITV1 or can be streamed from 7am on ITVX.

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Authors

Michael Adams is the Soaps Editor at Radio Times, covering all of the hot gossip and spoilers from Weatherfield to Walford, Emmerdale to Hollyoaks and everywhere in-between. He joined the team from Metro, where he spent two years as a Soaps Reporter and previously worked on the sets of both Coronation Street and Emmerdale.