Coronation Street's Fiz Stape gets a frightening glimpse of what Kirsty Soames is capable of next week when the unstable mum hatches a nasty plot to injure her at Underworld.
As Kirsty (Natalie Gumede) grows increasingly annoyed over Fiz meddling in her relationship with Tyrone Dobbs, she attempts to warn her off by making sure that Fiz's hand gets jammed in her machine at the factory.
Fiz is rattled when she realises what Kirsty has done, but will it be enough for her to take a step back from their feud?
Digital Spy recently caught up with Jennie McAlpine, who plays Fiz, to hear her thoughts on the storyline and what's to come.
Tyrone, Kirsty, Tina and Tommy were initially the main players in the domestic abuse story. Are you glad Fiz is getting more involved now?
"Yeah, it's wonderful to be involved. I think it's fabulous that Corrie are tackling this storyline with Tyrone and Kirsty. Obviously these things do happen in real life, so we're highlighting it here and I think it's been done really well. We've got a clever team and writers putting it all together, and on top of that Alan Halsall and Natalie Gumede have been so brilliant.
"Everyone feels for Tyrone and he's a perfect character to tell this story with, because he's so loved and no-one wants him to be treated like that. And particularly Fiz doesn't want him to be - she's got a bee in her bonnet about it now."
It must be especially nice to film as Fiz and Tyrone have a lot of history together!
"Yeah, it's been great because we've been doing more and more scenes together again. It's really weird because it also reminds me of how long I've been here at Corrie. When I first joined, Fiz and Tyrone were joyriding and nicking cars - that was over 11 years ago now so there is a lot of history there. Tyrone was going out with Maria at the time, but Maria had him on a diet and Fiz tempted him with some chips. That's how I got him!
"It's great that they're exploring that history again. I love doing scenes with the old gang. Fiz really cares about Tyrone and they've got a good friendship. Tyrone has always been lovely to her and now she's desperate to help out her friend.
"She likes justice, our Fiz. That was definitely cemented when she was wrongly sent down for murder! She likes things to be right and once she gets it into her head that she wants to get things sorted, she won't stop."
Fiz usually gets on with people, so is it a nice change when you get a new nemesis like Kirsty?
"It is nice - we've had some really good barneys! When Fiz hates someone, she really hates someone. I've given Sally Webster some slaps, and Rosie too! It's mainly women, which isn't good for the sisterhood!
"I think in Kirsty's case, Fiz is quite justified in her hatred for her. But it's been brilliant - I love a good fight! Fiz is a nice character but if you did a tally of how many slaps she's dished out, I bet it'd be quite a few."
What can you tell us about how the injury storyline begins?
"Well, obviously Kirsty is really jealous whenever Tyrone speaks to anyone else - particularly Fiz, who she knows is his ex-girlfriend. Fiz is trying to do what Tyrone has asked and keep away from them both, but she finds it very difficult and she's worried about him.
"Because Tyrone isn't going out of the house much, Fiz suggests to him that he should go along to a toddler group. But when Kirsty gets wind of the fact that he's going and that Fiz suggested it, she doesn't like it and won't budge."
What happens next?
"Afterwards, Kirsty is plotting what she can do to Fiz to scare her off. Then when Fiz has a dodgy machine at the factory, Mr Donovan asks her to try fixing it herself. Fiz agrees to give it a go, which is not good because obviously she's not a proper professional! She asks Julie to switch it off at the wall while she sorts it out, but then the audience will see that Kirsty switches it back on.
"I've not seen the scene but I've heard it's quite gruesome when Fiz then gets her finger trapped in the machine. You can imagine it would be - a needle going through your finger!
"But Kirsty is the calmest person in the whole factory, because she knows what she's done. She takes control, gets the first aid kit, bandages Fiz up. She takes her to the hospital and Fiz thinks, 'Is this really the mental Kirsty I was arguing with before?'"
What does Kirsty say to Fiz at the hospital that freaks her out so much?
"When they're at the hospital, Fiz can't resist still having a go at Kirsty about Tyrone. That makes Kirsty riled and she says, 'Look, you better shut your mouth or next time it'll be a lot worse than your finger'. So Kirsty doesn't actually say that she's done it, because she's very clever. But it's the look in Kirsty's eye, and Fiz knows that she is responsible.
"After that, it's Fiz's quest to get people to believe her. She decides to tell everyone, but nobody seems to listen to her. She's got no proof, you see. Plus, everyone saw that Kirsty was really nice and looked after Fiz, so it's not really adding up. So Kirsty is very clever - she's a manipulative person and she's set it up perfectly.
"When it comes down to it, nobody will believe Fiz - and particularly Tyrone doesn't. If he doesn't believe her nobody will, because he knows what Kirsty is like."
Will this have the desired effect and cause Fiz to back off from Tyrone?
"Do you know what, Fiz is not really that easily scared. Yes she is rattled, and Kirsty rattles her even more in a couple of weeks after that. But I think if you'd want anyone in your corner, it'd be Fiz. She's not that scared of Kirsty. I've had lots more scenes with Natalie since then, put it that way!"
We know you can't say too much, but we've heard you might be busy storyline-wise at Christmas this year…
"Yes, I can tell you that - I am. Christmas is exciting, it's really good. And then there's more after Christmas at New Year. New Year is very eventful!"
Is Corrie pulling out all the stops for Christmas this year then?
"I think so, and it'll have everything you'd want to watch. You need to be able to watch a little bit of someone being miserable on Christmas Day, I think. When Corrie comes on, it'll be the evening and most people across the country will have tried with their best intentions to have a lovely Christmas, but there's probably been an argument in most households. Probably over something frivolous, but it will have got heated!
"There'll be a lot of fights across the country by the time Corrie is on, so it'll be nice for people to see a bit of angst. But there's also a bit of happiness and it'll make people smile."
Will Fiz have more scenes with the wider Armstrong-Windass clan coming up?
"Yeah, it's lovely. You'll see that we're all together at Christmas - we have a little get-together. Fiz gets a little bit tipsy, so I can tell you that as an exclusive! (Laughs.)
"They're lovely those scenes with the extended family, because that is most people's family in the world today - people coming from all sorts of places, with loads of different kids. I love that there's always someone in that house and Anna's always got the kettle on. They're brilliant scenes."
Do you think Fiz and Tyrone are meant to be together?
"A lot of people are saying that to me. I'm getting a lot of comments that they should be together and that it should be the next step. People say they're made for each other and they've both had terrible partners. But Kirsty would batter me!"
Now that Alison King is back filming, is it nice to have Carla back in the factory again?
"It is lovely to have Ali back, yeah. I think you need a woman running the factory. Michelle has been very good at keeping things in order, but she's not quite as ruthless as Carla when it comes to keeping things under control. When it comes to Rob, us factory girls can wrap these bossy men around our little finger. We're scared of Carla, but we're not scared of Rob, really!"
Emmerdale producer Stuart Blackburn will be taking over from Phil Collinson in the New Year. How do you feel about getting a new boss?
"It's always weird when anyone leaves here, and obviously Phil has been such a big part of the show with the 50th anniversary and everything else that he's done. He'll be missed and he's made a brilliant contribution to Corrie.
"But there always has to be a change eventually, and I think that'll be nice. I've known Stuart for a while because he's worked at Corrie before, and we're very close with Emmerdale anyway. We always try and get together every now and again with Emmerdale, and we were so impressed with their recent live episode. It's nice that Stuart's had input into Corrie before - he knows how the thing works."
Shobna Gulati has also announced that she's bowing out. Will you be sad to see her go?
"I will, but Shobna is going to be here for a while yet. Her departure is a long time off, so I'm sure she's got time to get up to much more mischief! We'll miss her but she'll go on and be fabulous.
"It's weird because Shobna is someone who I've known for years. All these people become your mates, and I'm still sat here in my dressing room waving them off! But I love it here and I like watching my old mates on new programmes too."
Away from Corrie, are you still opening up your own restaurant this year?
"I am indeedy! It's going very well. The restaurant is called Annie's Restaurant because it's near St Ann's Square in Manchester. We're opening at the beginning of December and we've got a few Christmas parties booked in already.
"We'll have to have a Corrie get-together there, because they'll do anything for a free drink! We're really looking forward to it. Obviously I'm mad busy here at Corrie, so my partner Chris is the brains. I say I'm the silent partner, but Chris told me, 'Jennie if you're a silent partner, I'd hate to hear a noisy one!'"
Love many, trust few, always paddle your own canoe