Coronation Street's producer Stuart Blackburn has promised that Roy Cropper will be back on "an upward path" next year.
The show's boss admitted that there is still a while to go before the popular character finds happiness again following the tragic death of his wife Hayley.
Roy (David Neilson) has suffered some upsetting setbacks this month as he struggled to cope on a return trip to Blackpool, having previously visited the seaside resort with Hayley a year ago. He was also further traumatised by a break-in at the café once he returned home.
Asked whether things will improve for Roy, Blackburn told STV: "They will. The good news is that in 2015 we're going to see Roy back on an upward path, but there's a way to go yet because if you think about it, every week that goes by is another anniversary - the anniversary of the trip to Blackpool that we all remember, the anniversary of Hayley telling him that she wanted to take her own life, the anniversary of the last Christmas.
"Roy being Roy has just bottled it up and bottled it up. Added to that is him feeling victimised and bullied by what are essentially just children. It's all going to explode around Christmas time."
Blackburn also promised happy times ahead for Beth Tinker (Lisa George) and Kirk Sutherland (Andrew Whyment), confirming that they will make it down the aisle with a successful wedding.
He said: "It's going to be the most bonkers wedding ever, though, absolutely bonkers! I can't wait to see it. We've only just started shooting so I haven't seen it yet. It's going to be a really good Tinkers wedding."
Sean Tully also has something to smile about when he finds love with a vicar called Billy, played by Daniel Brocklebank. However, there will be challenges when Sean starts to feel second best compared to Billy's job and his parishioners.
Blackburn said: "It's going to be tricky because there's three people in this relationship - Billy, Sean and God! But for once we might see Sean have a bit of happiness."
