This article contains spoilers for tonight’s (Monday, February 23) Coronation Street, which has not yet aired on TV but is available to watch now on YouTube and ITVX.

Bernie Winter (Jane Hazlegrove) was put into a terrifying situation in tonight’s Coronation Street, when she was left alone in the café with Mal Roper (Tim Treolar).

Viewers will recall that Mal and Bernie kissed shortly after Billy Mayhew’s funeral, during a drug-fuelled night of partying at the Chariot Square Hotel.

Bernie Winter is in a terrifying situation

While Bernie was grieving the loss of her son-in-law, Mal was commiserating the end of his marriage, having learnt that his wife, Alice, had been secretly corresponding with Roy Cropper (David Neilson).

Mal had leaned in to kiss Bernie, before she pushed him away and reminded him that she was married.

In the days that followed, Mal arrived at Roy’s Rolls to do some work on the electrics. Bernie was horrified to see him, having hoped that she’d be able to put their antics behind her for good.

However, after learning that Bernie worked in the café, and seeing her all loved up with husband Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin), Mal made out to Roy that he would need to stay and do more work.

Since then, his obsession with Bernie has only grown more disturbing, with the handyman having lurked outside her house in the dead of night on at least one occasion.

In tonight’s episode, he upped the ante even further, leaving Bernie fearing for her safety.

With Roy having left Bernie in charge of the café, she was left feeling awkward when Mal came downstairs and opted to stay for a drink.

When Bernie later tried to encourage him to leave, Mal locked the door, trapping Bernie inside with him.

He proceeded to insist that he wasn’t a threat to her, before detailing how he’d been unable to stop thinking about her since the kiss. His delusions stretched so far that he even referred to her as ‘my Bernie’, and she was quick to once again remind him of her marital status.

As she made it very clear that she wasn’t interested in him in that way, Mal’s demeanour changed as he accused her of being a ‘cheap tease’.

Bernie’s discomfort turned to fear as Mal cornered her and grabbed hold of her wrist to stop her from escaping into the upstairs flat.

You’ll have to tune into the episode to find out how the situation ends, but what we can tell you is that it seems Mal is set to get even more sinister, as it is later revealed that Bernie’s face has been cut out of her wedding pictures.

Just how far is he prepared to go to get what he wants?