This article contains spoilers for tonight’s (Thursday, February 26) Coronation Street, which has not yet aired on TV but is available to watch now on YouTube and ITVX.

As Coronation Street’s local undertaker, George Shuttleworth (Tony Maudsley) is more used

to dealing with death than most of his neighbours, but that doesn’t mean he was prepared to witness it first hand in tonight’s episode.

In recent weeks, George has found himself at the centre of a scandal, after a client made him the sole beneficiary of her will – much to the horror of her daughter, Annie.

Annie quickly came to the conclusion that George must have scammed her mother, and has since pursued legal advice from Adam Barlow (Sam Robertson).

Obviously, this has had a detrimental effect on Shuttleworth’s reputation, especially with Christina Boyd’s (Amy Robbins) habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Earlier this week, as George was showing out another satisfied customer, Christina made a joke about how he’d been cosying up to her to get into her will, unaware that the client was still in earshot.

George was mortified and gave Christina a dressing down, as he fretted about how much damage had already been done to the business.

In tonight’s episode, after realising that client Joan had been ignoring his calls, George made the decision not to fight for the money he’d been left in the will, though Christina warned that backing down would make him look guilty.

As she argued that he’d be going against the wishes of Annie’s mother if he ignored her will, George was convinced not to give in.

Hoping to make up for her mistake, Christina spoke to Adam, who warned her that the best thing George could do would be to give up the money before things got messy.

When he revealed that Annie believed Christina was a co-conspirator, and her con-artist past didn’t do her any favours, Christina was horrified.

Meanwhile, things were finally looking up for George, when Joan arrived at Shuttleworth’s and assured George that she wanted him to do her sister’s funeral, pointing out that he was as honest as the day is long.

George was touched when she compared him to his father, and proudly reflected on the values of his business, before making a horrifying discovery.

Joan was dead!

This certainly does not look good for George, particularly with his current legal troubles looming. How will people react when they learn of Joan’s death in George’s company?

Could this be the final nail in the coffin for Shuttleworth’s?