A BELOVED LEGEND IS LED AWAY IN CUFFS AS MAL IS LEFT FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE

Mal Roper (Tim Treloar) was rushed to hospital in tonight’s after being brutally attacked and left for dead.

The newcomer has already caused quite a stir on the cobbles, with his infatuation with () turning sinister earlier this week.

Mal arrived in Weatherfield on the hunt for () to confront him about his letters to wife Alice.

After hearing Roy’s side of the story, Mal headed out to drown his sorrows and bumped into Bernie, with the pair soon embarking on .

Bernie was quick to regret the night in the cold light of the following day, but it had the opposite effect on Mal, who felt drawn to Bernie.

His obsession with her reached a worrying crescendo earlier this week when as he professed his love.

Mal Roper pointing at himself and shouting angrily at terrified Bernie Winter in the café in Coronation Street. — Mal has developed a sinister obsession with Bernie Winter (Picture: ITV)

When Bernie made it clear that she didn’t reciprocate his feelings, Mal turned nasty. Fortunately, () arrived before things went any further, but the whole experience left Bernie shaken.

Tonight, Kit was put on the case of investigating an attack on Mal, and he got a big shock when he arrived at the hospital and found out that he was in intensive care.

The doctor explained that Mal had hit his head on the pavement and suffered a cardiac arrest, and was now in critical condition. She also pointed out that bruising to his upper arms indicated an altercation.

Later, when Kit found out that new colleague DC Browning had made a breakthrough on the case, he was less than impressed at having to share the workload.

However, he would soon have much more to worry about when DC Browning arrested Bernie for the assault.

Bernie confronts Mal in the street in Corrie — Bernie loudly threatened Mal (Picture: ITV)

Things aren’t exactly looking good for Bernie, considering her last run-in with Mal in yesterday’s episode.

Mal was determined to intimidate her by lurking across the street, before once again spewing vitriol about her and son Paul Foreman, who died of MND just over a year ago.

However, furious Bernie refused to show any fear, instead , promising at top volume that she would kill him.

Having not exactly been subtle with her threat, could this be set to be her downfall? And was she really the person behind Mal’s attack?