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Tonight’s episode of Coronation Street is EXPLOSIVE. Here star Pauline McLynn, who plays Maggie Driscoll, spills secrets from the set – and tells of playing an “old crone” on Father Ted in her 20s

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Corrie fans gasped in horror as they saw The Rovers’ landlady Maggie Driscoll watch her husband tumble down the stairs to his death moments after having a blazing row. But actress Pauline McLynn – best known for playing housekeeper Mrs Doyle in Father Ted – doesn’t care if the flashback scenes make her a hate figure with fans. “Even if people think there’s terrible villainy afoot, we all love a villain, don’t we?” she reasons. “One of the most attractive characters in the whole of entertainment is Hannibal Lecter. Just saying!

“I’m not suggesting that Maggie Driscoll is the Hannibal Lecter of Coronation Street – not as far as I know so far, she isn’t. But I wouldn’t be afraid of that. As long as the audience is entertained by what she’s up to, I don’t mind whether they like her or not, as long as they want to know what happens next.”

The dramatic scenes in tonight’s episode show Maggie trying to slap her husband Alan across the face during a row. When tempers flared again over an affair she had, she tried to stop Alan pushing past her and he plummeted down the stairs. Unaware of the plot when she took the role, Pauline – who believes Alan’s death was an accident – says: “All I knew was that at some stage the rug would be pulled out from under everyone’s perception of who Maggie is, but I didn’t expect it to be this!

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“I did talk to Kate Ford, who plays Tracy Barlow, about it. “I said ‘there’s a flashback for me and there’s a bit of pushing at the top of the stairs and somebody falls down them and dies.’ She said ‘yeah, well, I’ve killed three times and you know what? You just have to get on with things.’ So that’s where I am!”

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Irish-born Pauline arrived on the cobbles in October as the mum of new landlord Ben Driscoll (Aaron McCusker) and the mother-in-law of Eva Price (Catherine Tyldesley). As well as Father Ted, her TV credits include the 2023 Channel 5 drama The Inheritance, the Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders sitcom Jam & Jerusalem and EastEnders,where she spent a year as Nick Cotton’s ex-wife Yvonne.

Playing 65-year-old Maggie is the first time Pauline, 63, has played someone close to her own age. “I often play old crones and have done since just after I left college in 1983,” she says. “I was always very handy as the older woman, so it’s been my life. When I played Mrs Doyle, I was heading for 30 and she was anywhere between 50 and 100! In fact, they initially wouldn’t see me for the part because I was too young. But, eventually, they hadn’t found a Mrs Doyle and I was in the last sweepings of people that they saw. But now I’m nearly the right age for everything.”

Synchronising Maggie’s 65th birthday with Coronation Street’s 65th anniversary last night, Maggie’s flashback scenes were screened as family and friends gathered to celebrate with her. Tensions between her and Eva also rose, with Maggie undermining her daughter-in-law in the bar – accusing her of harbouring feelings for her former fiancé Adam Barlow. And Pauline warns that Christmas Day will be even more explosive, as turns arch manipulator in a bid to split up Eva and her son.

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“There’s an awful lot of bad behaviour at Christmas,” she warns. “She is going all out to upset as many people as possible in her own inimitable style. We all know she can be cranky, ferocious and fiercely loyal to her family, but I think that people may go ‘oh you’ve gone too far Maggie.’ She accuses people of things – whether they’re true or not. I’ll leave the audience to decide. She’s always testing the boundaries of what she can get away with.”

While Maggie is intent on causing trouble, Pauline’s own Christmas will be altogether calmer. She says: “I’ll be with my husband’s family in Dublin, including his 94 year-old father. And I think we’ll all sit around and watch Coronation Street, which will be fantastic.” Although Pauline admits she is more like The Grinch than a Christmas fairy. “With my on-screen Christmas and my own with my family, I’ll have had two Christmases by the end of the year and I’m not even that much of a fan of Christmas!” she laughs. “I think it’s an awful lot of fuss for very little.

“I have bought myself a load of Grinch stuff to wear. I got a great Grinch sweatshirt on sale in Tesco last year. It’s meant for a 14 year-old boy I think, but I can squeeze into it. And I just point to it all over Christmas if people come at me. This year I’ve bought a hat to go with it, so I’m fully decked in the Grinch outfit. But as much as I’m not a fan of Christmas, I hate the New Year even more. There’s always somebody missing. So, on New Year’s Eve, I’m doing the ‘in memoriam’ section for people I’ve lost. I find it a very sad time of year, so I prefer to skip the New Year’s parties.”

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Pauline is married to Irish talent agent-turned producer Richard Cook. He is based in Dublin, while Pauline is now in Manchester, since joining Corrie. “He watches Coronation Street, mostly when we’re together, which isn’t too often these days!” she smiles. “He has his work and I have mine and we’re in two different countries as it turns out. But he’s incredibly supportive. I’m probably my worst critic. He is a critic, but in the most positive way. He’s been watching me acting for about 30 years, so he’s seen the lot!”

Acting, however, is not Pauline’s sole career. She took up writing in 2000 and is now a successful novelist with eight published books. “They’re for an adult audience. That makes it sound like Fifty Shades of Grey!” she chuckles. “What I mean is they’re for slightly older readers, let’s put it that way.”

She also has her own online shop, selling her personally hand-knitted tea cosies. “I was taught to knit by my mum when I was a child and she is a great knitter, as was my gran, so, it’s in the genes,” she says. “I find knitting a very calming experience. Each cosy is numbered and archived and comes with a little story as to why I made it as I did.”

It’s not a hobby you can imagine trouble causing Maggie Dricoll taking to. But Pauline says: “I’ve seen relations of mine slagging each other and not getting on, even though they were sisters and brothers and whatever else. You’re stuck with your family, so it makes sense to me that often people don’t get on, or even actively dislike somebody for a while.

“But, hopefully some people will like Maggie. The flashback is just sad really. It was an accident, not murder. That’s what I think anyway. It is very much open to interpretation, although I don’t think Coronation Street intends a full murder trial or anything like that. Though people change their minds all the time, so who knows!”

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