Coronation Street fan favourite fired on the spot after strange behaviour
Coronation Street's Debbie Webster was diagnosed with dementia on the ITV soap some months ago but on Monday night's episode, her struggles began to take their toll on other residents of Weatherfield. The fan favourite, played by Sue Davaney, manages the Chariot Square Hotel and was at the front desk beside colleague Ryan Connor, portrayed by Ryan Prescott, on what seemed to be an ordinary morning until things took an unexpected turn.
When a disgruntled guest started arguing with Debbie over her lack of sleep, the hotel manager hit back at her with a series of sarcastic comments which the customer caught on camera. However, Ryan managed to convince her to delete the footage and when he told Debbie that he was able to get her to change her mind by saying that his boss is "under a lot of stress" at the moment, a delighted Debbie grabbed him and kissed him.
Ryan was left visibly shocked by her actions and left the front desk for a period of time. When he came back, he tried to confront Debbie over the incident but she seemingly had no memory of it.
When Debbie's partner Ronnie Bailey, played by Vinta Morgan, came to the hotel looking for her, he bumped into Ryan, who explained that she was out but he voiced his concerns ton him after researching vascular dementia following her unexpected lunge on him, the Mirror reports.
He considered if she had "misread the signals", and admitted 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 went from bad to worse for all involved when Ryan attempted to diffuse the situation by suggesting they forget about it.
However, an angry Debbie took offence at the fact that others had been discussing her condition and stormed out.
Debbie was then left worried that no one would be able to interact with her without seeing her condition first.
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 told Ronnie that she refuses to see her condition as a "death sentence".
However, the surprise kiss seemed to have been the least of Debbie's worries as earlier that morning she had caught brother Carl Webster, played by Jonathan Howard, with a split lip and bruises.
She quickly realised he was in need of financial help and offered to step in.
Debbie made the mistake of thinking her brother only needed a small sum before it became clear that the mechanic was in far more debt than originally thought.
After a threatening phone call overheard by Abi, played by Sally Carman, she finally gets the problem out of him and he claims that he is £50k 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 as she said that she "couldn't bear" to lose him as their secret affair continued to heat up.
However, when Carl revealed the full extent of his needs to Debbie, she was exasperated that 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. This was of course a lie as he received a text message demanding the money.
Actress Sue previously opened up about how "frightened" she was to take on the dementia storyline.
She told 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?'
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"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 Coronation Street boss Kate Brooks, she 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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