Coronation Street spoilers: Nick Tilsley risks harming son Sam Blakeman over grief fears

NICK Tilsley risks harming son Sam Blakeman over grief fears next week in Coronation Street.

The restaurant owner – played by Ben Price in the ITV soap – has had a rough few months since Sam’s mum Natasha Blakeman was murdered in October.

The salon owner was shot by drug dealer Harvey Gaskell by accident four months ago.

The crook thought that she was Simon Barlow’s mum Leanne Battersby after the youngster got involved in his dodgy dealings.

Since then Nick has struggled to cope with being a single dad.

Sam stopped talking when he lost his mum last year and Nick encouraged him to talk, but nothing worked.

Late last year he decided to leave Sam with Mary Taylor in the cafe.

The pair started playing chess and they FINALLY made a breakthrough with Sam.

After two months, the youngster spoke to his dad for the first time during a game of chess.

Since then, the board game has become a huge part of Sam’s way of coping with his mum’s death.

He’s started to get really good at it, and Roy Cropper organises for him to go up against Brian Tilsley.

However, Nick starts to worry again when he gets a call from Sam’s school.

The businessman is told that his son is struggling at school, and he soon realises it’s because he’s been focusing on chess.

Nick confides in Leanne and she tells him that he shouldn’t be too angry with Sam.

But Nick doesn’t take any notice of her advice and tells him that he can’t play the game until his school work improves.

How will Sam react to his dad’s new rules?

• Coronation Street airs on ITV