Episode 11,145
Spoilers reported that Peter would receive a mystery gift from his wife, Carla Connor (Alison King), which would leave him shocked.
The episode also featured the return of Matt Milburn as Tommy Orpington, which sparked the beginning of his romance storyline with Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford).
Evelyn Plummer (Maureen Lipman) becomes annoyed when she quickly pops into the shop she works in and several residents try to buy stuff.
Gemma Winter (Dolly-Rose Campbell) visits her brother Paul Foreman (Peter Ash) and his husband Billy Mayhew (Daniel Brocklebank).
Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne) gifts his wife Carla Connor (Alison King) an inscribed bracelet.
Ed Bailey (Trevor Michael Georges) feels guilty seeing his family spend Christmas with few presents, which intensifies as he receives a watch calling him the "World's Best Dad".
Evelyn spends her Christmas with Mary Taylor (Patti Clare) and Roy Cropper (David Neilson) at the café.
Chesney, Gemma, Paul and their families, along with Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin), video call Bernie Winter (Jane Hazlegrove), who is in prison.
[4] Spoilers also teased that Ed Bailey (Trevor Michael Georges) would be harbouring a "huge secret" from the rest of his family owing to having lost all of their money through gambling.
[6] Daniel Kilkelly from Digital Spy reported, "Christmas Day is a family affair for the residents of Coronation Street as Weatherfield's finest gather together at their respective houses to reflect over the last 12 months and look forward to what the future holds".
[1] The main plot revolved around the lead-up to the departure of long-running character Peter Barlow, played by Chris Gascoyne.
[7] The Christmas and Boxing Day episodes were reported to be "life-changing" for Peter and his wife, Carla Connor (Alison King).
[10] Gascoyne was "delighted" with his departure storyline, calling the scripts "superb" and admitting that he was looking forward to seeing the "reaction" to how Peter departs the soap.
"[15] The episode also featured the return of Matt Milburn as footballer Tommy Orpington, who had previously appeared on the soap sporadically between 2016 and 2021.
[15] Coronation Street producer Iain MacLeod had announced the character's return in October 2023, saying, "You'll see Tommy again on Christmas Day!
[15] MacLeod also teased, "A story evolves where this attractive, historically successful man arrives into one of our female character's lives and upsets the apple cart in fairly spectacular fashion".
[15] The character was revealed to be Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford), with the pair having a "spark" on Christmas Day, which would lead to a "secret romance" in later episodes.
[17] Emotional scenes were also promised for Paul Foreman (Peter Ash), who was reported to be having his "last Christmas" due to his battle with motor neurone disease, which had been a long-running storyline beginning earlier in 2023.
[2] The Daily Mirror reported how fans were angry and left "fuming" over the decision to cut the running time of the Coronation Street and Emmerdale episodes, with a writer from the website saying that the change made the episodes look "lean" instead of "the action-packed drama stuffed making it a festive gift that many will feel short changed by".
[7] The episode did not make the top 10 most watched TV programmes of Christmas Day 2023, which was the first time in decades that Coronation Street had not appeared in that list.
