There is festive cheer on the horizon in Weatherfield as Chesney plans to pop the question to Sinead. But drama lurks ahead - and Bacup’s Sam Aston, who plays Chesney, admits marriage may not be the right move for his character...

IT has been an undeniably brutal year on the cobbles.

Poor Michelle Connor lost a baby and a husband, and gained a stalker. Andy Carver made both a shocking reappearance and grisly exit at the hands of nasty Pat Phelan. And teenager Bethany Platt found herself in the middle of a harrowing sexual exploitation story.

With Christmas fast approaching, the beleaguered Weatherfield residents deserve some festive cheer, and there are fairy lights at the end of the tunnel in the form of the fans’ favourite couple, Chesney Brown and Sinead Tinker. For Ches is set to propose - sort of romantically.

Sam Aston, who has played Chesney since his debut as a nipper in 2003, says of his character: “Creating a stable family situation has always been really important to him, because he’s come from a broken home.”

For a while, he says, Chesney has been distracted by dramatic events around him: “But now he wants to do this. And his sister Fiz [I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! star Jennie McAlpine] has basically told him, ‘It’s about bloody time’.”

Admittedly, it won’t be the dreamiest of proposals as, not only has Sinead already suggested marriage, but there will be an unwanted visitor on the scene - in the form of Chesney’s former love rival Daniel Osbourne (played by Rob Mallard).

“The proposal is... interesting,” Sam summarises diplomatically, as he remembers filming the big moment over dinner in the Bistro.

“Ches overhears Daniel saying he’s not going to be there that night and thinks that’s perfect. But then he turns up and it’s a really, really awkward situation. Sinead is livid, Ches fakes food poisoning, and it just gets worse from there.”

But he’s not about to go down without a fight, Sam says: “It sounds snide, but at least if Ches can do it in front of Daniel, it’s like telling him, ‘Beat that’.

“He does have that side to him, when he is shoved into a corner.”

Chesney had better hold on to that fiery edge as drama between the two lads is forecast to flare up again - though Sam is careful not to reveal how much it will damage the wedding plans.

“Daniel is starting to realise that he is actually in love with Sinead and doesn’t want to let her go.

“So the rivalry is naturally coming back, and I just hope that the audience will be on Chesney’s side.”

It’s early days for talk of the always-to-be-anticipated soap wedding, but Sam is already both “excited and nervous” about the prospect of taking centre stage.

Of course, the subject is a pertinent one for him, coming soon after he popped the question to real-life girlfriend Briony Gardner, as he turned 24 earlier this year.

He chuckles as he remembers the big moment in June, rounding up an intensive week of filming scenes where he abandoned his screen nieces on a bus and had an emotional “meltdown” in a shed.

“It was a crazy week,” he muses. “We finished filming on the Friday and then I proposed on the Saturday night.”

Several months into life as a betrothed man, he confesses that he is still overwhelmed by the sheer amount of preparation involved.

“There is a lot of planning to do and my girlfriend is talking about it 24/7. We are looking at getting married in a couple of years so we are still unsure about most of it, but we do know that we don’t want it to be traditional.

“Neither of us are religious, so I can’t see it being a church wedding. It will probably have more of a personal touch.”

Delving deeper into his apprehensions about the mammoth task, he continues: “It’s a bit of a minefield when you get going. Now we’ve actually started looking into it, it’s like, bloody hell, there’s so much to it.”

But, he adds quickly: “It’s very exciting and all good fun.”

Sam is confident beyond his years about his decisions, which I suspect has a lot to do with the fact he has been working on the ITV flagship soap since childhood.

His voice filled with honest appreciation, he explains: “I’m lucky that the public really warmed to Chesney from day one. This new young kid, who has never met his father, and with a mum who, let’s be honest, was a bit lousy.

“His dog (the enormous Schmeichel) was his best mate.

“I have always been fortunate enough to get great storylines, but this last year has been the biggest highlight, with so many different things going on. I can’t see myself working anywhere else.”

Sam clearly has buckets of affection for the show and the alter ego he has developed over more than half his life.

So we have to ask, with Daniel always around the corner and having previously admitted he feels the relationship with Sinead is “doomed”, does he believe marriage is the right move for Ches?

His earlier confidence has become more considered and he pauses before saying: “I don’t know.

“He loves Sinead to bits, but perhaps he is slightly forcing himself. He is still questioning whether she could go behind his back with Daniel again, but he doesn’t want to think like that.

“If he was a mate, I would tell him to go with his gut. I wouldn’t want to see him get hurt, but you can’t live your life in fear of the worst.”