Coronation Street’s Roy Cropper shares an awkward predicament tonight – after catching Nina Lucas and Shona Platt snooping through his belongings. Roy has sparked concern with his secretive behaviour recently, but he’s finally forced to come clean after an unwelcome invasion into his privacy.

In Monday’s episode, Roy appears visibly flustered and troubled at work. Usually on top form with keeping the customers happy, Roy messes up orders and is clearly distracted.

When Nina calls him out for being “miles away”, Roy confesses: “Yes, I admit, I am somewhat distracted. I shall endeavour to focus.”

Although Nina and Shona want him to be more open about what the problem is, stubborn Roy stays tight-lipped.

As Roy’s troubled mood seems to be related to a letter that he received earlier that morning, Shona decides to take the bull by the horns by snooping through his post.

Roy’s livid when he catches Shona red-handed, but seemingly backed into a corner, he soon admits that his woes are all connected to the prison pen pal scheme…

“I’ve formed a strong bond with a woman I’ve been corresponding with,” Roy explains. “It’s Alice – she wrote to thank me for communicating with her son.

“And we continued to exchange letters. We discovered that we had certain things in common, and then today, a further letter arrived.”

He adds: “The further letter has distinctly romantic undertones. It’s completely knocked me for six.”

Roy has always been reluctant to entertain the idea of a relationship after the tragic loss of his beloved wife Hayley in 2014. A storyline airing in 2015 and 2016 saw Roy romantically connected to Cathy Matthews and they even got engaged, but it all ended in disaster when Roy realised that he didn’t really love her.

Nina and Shona are both quick to offer Roy some advice on how to handle the tricky situation, but will their tactics pay off? And will viewers get to meet the mysterious Alice?

Roy first opened up about the prison pen pal scheme last month, when he explained that he wanted to help inmates feel less lonely. After his own time in jail, he knows how isolating the experience can be.

The café owner went on to mention Alice in a subsequent episode, sparking speculation about a new “lady friend”.