Coronation Street: Who tried to kill Ken Barlow?

If there is one thing that soap fans love it’s a whodunnit.

From who shot Phil Mitchell? to who killed Frank Foster?, there is nothing like the drama of a shocking murder or attempted murder – especially when the victim has a list of enemies as long as your arm.

Last night, Coronation Street launched their new whodunnit storyline, with Ken Barlow being found unconscious at the bottom of the stairs.

Later this week, the police will open an attempted murder investigation after it’s revealed that he had been hit on the head prior to his fall – ruling out Pat Phelan’s claims that Ken had simply suffered another stroke.

Ken has had a tempestuous couple of weeks, arguing with a lot of people on the street – many of whom are members of his own family -so the list of suspects is conveniently long and the storyline will no doubt rumble on for many weeks.

Here are the six main suspects and where they were at the time of the attack:

Pat Phelan

To be honest, things aren’t looking too good for Pat as he was the one to find Ken’s lifeless body, although he insisted to Daniel Barlow that he’d walked into the house just seconds before he did.

Phelan is known for being more than a little bit nasty and he made no secret of his anger when Ken accused him of doing a botched job on his kitchen.

Considering Todd and Billy were witness to Phelan ranting and raving about Ken in the Rovers, coupled with the fact that he has no alibi, we have a feeling that Phelan will probably be the police’s main suspect.

But if we have learned one thing from previous whodunnits, it’s that the culprit is never the most obvious person… So in all honesty, Phelan is probably innocent… For once.

Daniel Osbourne

Ken’s son Daniel was the second person to arrive on the scene, walking into his home and finding a flustered Phelan standing over his father’s body.

Dan acted suitably shocked and was the one to phone an ambulance, but was it all a big act?

Daniel has been in a bad place after learning that his girlfriend, Sinead Tinker, had secretly aborted their child, claiming that she didn’t want to ruin his University plans.

He also isn’t Ken’s biggest fan, arriving in Weatherfield with massive abandonment issues last year.

Could he be the one who tried to bump Ken off?

Sinead Tinker

Sinead was in a bit of a state during last night’s episode, drunk and hammering on Ken’s front door, looking for Daniel.

She’d just confessed to Beth that Ken’s anger at her pregnancy is what prompted her to abort her and Daniel’s child, with Ken accusing Sinead of trying to ruin Daniel’s dream of going to Oxford University – also harshly saying that she is nothing more than “a factory girl”.

Did Ken open the door to the intoxicated and emotional Sinead only to learn the true extent of her wrath?

Adam Barlow

Sinead isn’t the only one to be having a rough time of late, with Adam Barlow almost beaten to death after Ken burned his stash of money, leaving him at the mercy of some very unhappy drug dealers.

Ken did visit his grandson in hospital following the attack but instead of offering any sympathy he told him to leave Weatherfield and return to Canada, subsequently telling the family that Adam had left town for a new job opportunity.

Although everybody believes that Adam is in Canada, viewers know that he was actually skulking around the salon before boarding a bus… Did he return to Weatherfield to get revenge on his callous grandfather?

Tracy Barlow

Ken’s step-daughter Tracy is no stranger to murder, having previously bumped off Charlie Stubbs, and boy, does she have her fair share of motives.

Trace was left heartbroken when she overheard Ken ranting about how he’d wasted his life with her beloved late mother, Deidre, and she was also fuming when Ken refused to lend her money for her grand business plans.

She has recently accused Ken of putting his real children ahead of her and her daughter Amy, and is far from happy with Ken.

However, Tracy has a lot of alibis considering she was desperately looking for Amy, who was due to perform at the Community Centre, at the time of the attack.

Surely she couldn’t have possibly sneaked off to try and kill her step-dad in that time… Right?

Peter Barlow

Ken’s son Peter is the final suspect on our list, with the oldest of the Barlow children rarely seeing eye to eye with Ken, often feeling abandoned by his father and like he is a disappointing son.

Peter was recently belittled by Ken when he learned of his plan to buy the Rovers, he also told Peter’s girlfriend, Toyah, that Pete was back on the drink and sleeping with Chloe – lies that saw Toyah dump him and return to her husband, Toby.

On the night of the attack, viewers saw Peter break down in his flat as he contemplated a bottle of whiskey that he’d stolen from the Rovers, however, he smashed the drink and left the flat without drinking a drop… But he still might have been after revenge.

Needless to say, we can’t wait to see how this all unfolds in the coming weeks.

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