Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan) is to throw herself at Rob Donovan (Marc Baylis) in the coming weeks as she tries to make Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne) jealous. But events take an unexpected turn when Carla (Alison King) catches Tina and Rob kissing passionately in the backyard of the Rovers. Marc Baylis reveals all.

“Rob’s bricking it,” says Baylis. “Not because of Carla – she seems to find the whole thing amusing and Rob trusts her not to tell Tracy. What he’s worried about is Carla going home and telling Peter, his enemy, who also happens to be his girlfriend’s brother! He’s really panicked.”

So does Carla actually want Rob to pursue Tina? “She does, yes. She thinks it would be a great idea for him and Tina to be together. Carla can imagine him with someone more like Tina, rather than Tracy, although that is probably just Carla’s wishful thinking. She does egg him on a bit.”

Of course, one major repercussion of the kiss becoming common knowledge would be Rob experiencing the wrath of Tracy, a woman not known for taking such matters lightly. “It’s not even worth thinking about,” laughs Baylis. “She’d kill him. I don’t know that he’s necessarily afraid of Tracy, but he knows she’s not one to mess around with. God knows what she’d do to him!”

And does Rob have any inkling about what was going on between Tina and Peter in the run-up to the wedding? “Absolutely not. I suppose looking back, there might have been a couple of things he might have picked up on, but then why would he? He’s got no reason to go looking for clues about the two of them. If Rob did find out, I don’t think Peter would be in a good place. Carla is Rob’s sister and he’s always been protective of her where Peter’s concerned.”

See the drama unfold from Wednesday 18 December.