CORONATION Street fans have hit out at speculation that Carla Connor could soon be starting a lesbian relationship with DS Lisa Swain.

The pair have been getting closer in recent weeks, with DS Swain (Vicky Myers) proving to be a comfort for Carla (Alison King) after her husband Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne) left for pastures new at the end of last year

As Swain continues to investigate Lauren’s (Cait Fitton) apparent murder, she’s been spending more of her downtime with Carla.

But as speculation grows the pair could become more than friends, some fans have labelled the potential new twist as ‘offensive’ and ‘bottom of the barrel storytelling’ after Carla has spent the past 18 years in solely male relationships.

Speaking on the Digital Spy forums, fans of the long-running ITV soap aired their grievances, with one saying: “I seriously bloody hope not. This show is the pits if this happens and they’re clearly running out of ideas.

“This is definitely scraping the bottom of the barrel if they suddenly decide that Carla likes women, after being completely strictly d***ly since her arrival 18 years ago. Ridiculous.”

Another added: “Coronation Street in trouble so their solution is to make two attractive women get together thinking that will get the viewers interested again.”

A third said: “Before I get labelled as something too, I will say, as a gay man myself, I find it completely disrespectful if they decide to go down the line that people can be so easily turned.

“We aren’t a joke. It was offensive when they tried it with Tracey and it will be offensive with Carla.

“Carla has been on the cobbles since 2006, she’s only ever been with men. If she was brought in as a pan sexual character then sure, but she wasn’t

“If this is the case, I find it pretty regressive,” added a fourth. “I thought we’d long abandoned that dopey idea of people ‘catching gay’ as if it were some kind of disease.

“I thought we’d got to a place where sexual orientation was a natural part of who someone was, not a trend. Miss me with this nonsense.”

The comments come after DS Swain was confirmed to be a permanent star of the soap, with actress Vicky Swain downplaying a potential relationship for the character as she juggles a teenage daughter.

“I think she perhaps has seen somebody that’s caught her eye but at the moment she’s far too busy with focusing on this investigation and her career and being a single mum and juggling her home life as well with her teenage daughter,” she told Metro.co.uk.

“If anybody out there has got teenage daughters they can quite well understand what I’m saying with that.

“Obviously to portray that with authenticity, to be creatively challenged by that, is brilliant and I’m very thankful to be given this opportunity.”