Dashed hopes. Frowny faces. Parents in prison. It’s beginning to look at lot like Christmas at the Metcalfe’s.

Sally (Sally Dynevor) and Tim’s (Joe Duttine) fostering journey has not been an easy one in Coronation Street.

That goes without saying when foster kids Joanie (Savanna Pennington) and Shanice (Molly Kilduff) belong to the infamous Michaelis clan, who caused carnage on the Cobbles.

Drunk-driving Dad Mick (Joe Layton) is currently serving time for murdering Craig Tinker with a baseball bat (still not over it, tbh) while mum Lou (Farrel Hegarty) is banged up for the brutal attack that put Gary Windass (Mikey North) in hospital.

When you’ve got family issues that bad, it’s hard to enjoy a mince pie.

But Sally’s determined to give Shanice and Joanie a present that all little girls dream of. A pony? Dream on. A selection box? Even better – a prison visit with their mum on Christmas Day!

Whilst the girls are giddy at the prospect, Tim worries that she’s setting them up for disappointment as the prison might not allow visits on Christmas day. He’s right to worry.

The last time Sally brought Shanice and Joanie to see their mum, Lou made her promise not to bring the girls regularly. She didn’t want her kids to see her locked up.

Can Sally pull off a Miracle on Coronation Street?

Sadly, the spectre of Shanice and Joanie’s jailbird mum isn’t the only Ghost of Christmas Past haunting Tim and Sally.

Corrie fans saw the couple’s close relationship put to test by the arrival of Trisha Pinkerton (Anita Booth), an old flame of Tim’s who slept with him when she was twenty-one… and he was fourteen.

Disgusted, Sally accused Trisha of being a sexual predator who groomed Tim, but a mortified Tim maintained he was just a lucky kid who scored with an older lady.

Tim’s refusal to accept Sally’s point of view put their relationship under strain.

Here’s hoping Sally’s latest well-meaning attempt to meddle doesn’t end up with coal in her stocking…