Coronation Street favourite sacked on the spot after weird behaviour
Debbie Webster (Sue Devaney) was diagnosed with dementia on Coronation Street some months ago, but on Monday night's episode of the ITV soap, her struggles started to take their toll on other residents of Weatherfield.
The Street favourite manages the Chariot Square Hotel and was at the front desk alongside colleague Ryan Connor (Ryan Prescott) on what appeared to be a normal morning until things took a surprising turn. When an angry guest started an argument with Debbie over her lack of sleep, the hotel manager fired back at her with a torrent of sarcastic comments that the customer caught on camera. However, Ryan convinced her to delete the footage and when he tells Debbie that he managed to appease her letting her know that his boss is "under a lot of stress" at the moment, a delighted Debbie grabbed him and kissed him. Ryan was visibly shocked and left the front desk for a period of time, but when he returned and attempted to confront Debbie over the incident, she seemingly had no recollection.
When Debbie's partner Ronnie Bailey (Vinta Morgan) came to the hotel looking for her, he found Ryan, who explained that she was out but revealed his concerns to him after he researched vascular dementia following her surprise move. He wondered if she had "misread the signals", and confessed that she kissed him earlier that morning but Debbie herself interrupted the awkward moment as she came back to work. Oblivious to what has gone on, Ronnie tells Debbie that Ryan has told him about the kiss but she looked confused for a second and then decided to brush it off as a "friendly smacker".
Things only got worse in for all involved in the situation when Ryan decided to try to diffuse things by suggesting they forget about everything, but an angry Debbie took offence at the fact that others had been discussing her condition and stormed out. Later on, Debbie worried that no one would be able to look at her without seeing her condition and when Ryan tried to apologise to her whilst mentioning her condition again, she decided to sack him on the spot and ordered him to clear out his locker.
In the Rovers, she explained to Ronnie that she refuses to see her condition as a "death sentence", but the kiss seemed to have been the least of Debbie's worries as earlier that morning she had caught brother Carl Webster (Jonathan Howard) with a split lip and bruises. She soon realised he was in need of financial help and offered to step in. But she mistakenly believed that he only needed a small sum, although in the garage it soon became apparent that the mechanic was in far more debt than originally thought.
Following a threatening phone call overheard by Abi ( Sally Carman), she coaxes the problem out of him and he claims that he is £50,000 in debt to those whom he loaned the money from to keep his business going. A desperate Abi pleaded with Carl to raise the money and admitted that she "couldn't bear" to lose him as their secret affair continued to heat up. But when Carl revealed the full extent of his need to Debbie, she was exasperated he refused to reveal to her what he actually wanted it for. She left the pub, and, moments later, Abi appeared and he reassured her that he was "in the clear" about everything. But that was not the case, as he received a text message demanding the money.
For actress Sue, she previously spoke of how "frightened" she was in taking on the dementia storyline and explained to The Mirror: 'I was a little bit frightened. It was a lot of information to process, because it's not like a drama series where you might be doing it for six weeks. This is playing someone with dementia for one, two, three years. So, it was a case of 'can I do it? Am I ready?'
"I don't do things by halves. I'm either all in or all out. I like to research and get the best I can out of a script, so it can consume my life for as long as the story lasts.'
Recalling the meeting with cobbles boss Kate Brooks, Sue, 57, added: 'Our first chat was really thorough. She said: 'I love Debbie and I want you to tell this story. It's going to be a heartbreaking journey of emotion and honesty. Sad, hopeful, uplifting and truthful. Will you do it?'
'I went home and didn't sleep a wink that night. I talked it through with my husband. He said 'what would be the reason for not doing it?' I realised it was fear."
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