Coronation Street's Freda holds Aled hostage from his surgery

Coronation Street spoilers follow.

Coronation Street's Gemma was terrified as Freda went missing with Aled just before his cochlear operation in tonight's episodes (September 22).

Gemma had doubts about the surgery, saying she was afraid of Aled having a doctor drill into his head to put the cochlear implant in.

Bernie, on the other hand, was overjoyed by the idea of Aled hearing her voice for the first time, watching countless videos on the internet of children undergoing similar surgeries and hearing their parents' voices for the first time.

Bernie was gushing to Chesney about the videos when Freda heard, and she told her not to let Aled "forget his deaf part". Bernie responded: "He won't have a deaf part, he'll be normal." Freda was visibly hurt by Bernie's comments.

ITV

With Gemma stressed, Freda offered to take Aled for a walk. But then, she overheard Bernie and Chesney discussing the "hassle" of attending deaf groups and British Sign Language (BSL) classes, and how they wanted Aled to "talk properly and fit in", and Freda got more upset.

Gemma became concerned when Norris' funeral started drawing closer and Freda hadn't returned with Aled yet. Beginning to panic, Gemma spoke to Roy who said Freda had been upset by Bernie's remarks earlier. Gemma started to fear she'd taken Aled.

As Gemma asserted they needed to find Aled and get him to hospital before he missed his operation, they found an emotional Freda in the community centre with Aled. She was showing him a website dedicated to successful deaf people.

ITV

Enlisting the help of the interpreter who had arrived to discuss Norris's funeral plans, Gemma did her best to get through to Freda but she refused to hand Aled over.

Freda said that while she was the one who was deaf, she felt Bernie and Gemma weren't listening to her concerns. But Bernie insisted she was just "jealous".

Even with cochlears, Freda told them, Aled would still be deaf on the inside. She told Gemma that whether they went ahead with the cochlears or not, she had to make sure that Aled was involved in "the deaf world and the hearing world".

Freda admitted her drastic measures were because she heard Bernie saying she was excited not to have to learn BSL any more.

ITV

As they diffused the situation, Chesney had already called the police on Freda.

Freda said the police only gave her "a slap on the wrist", but the damage had been done. Chesney said he didn't want Freda to be in their son's life anymore.

Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7.30pm and 8.30pm.