Coronation Street spoilers: Devastating scenes as dying Paul Foreman’s speech fails him

Since Paul Foreman (Peter Ash) was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) in Coronation Street, his great fear has been the knowledge that he’ll lose control of his bodily functions until he’s unable to do anything for himself and will be totally dependent on Billy (Daniel Brocklebank) and others.

Knowing that one of the things that would soon become a problem would be losing the ability to speak, Paul obtained some equipment that could replicate his voice.

He was surprised when he got the equipment that it sounded just like him, but later that day he was reminded of the fragility of his situation when his carer was late arriving and Paul had an accident before he could get to the toilet.

This convinced Paul that, when the time came he wanted to make his own choices about how he ended his life and asked Todd (Gareth Pierce) to help him.

Knowing he only has a few months to live, Paul stated, ‘I need to get my ducks in a row, for when the time comes. It won’t be long now.’

In upcoming episodes Paul has started to slur his words, to the extent that his new PA finds it hard to understand what he’s saying to her. While Billy tries to play the problem down, Summer (Harriet Bibby) realises that Paul’s voice is failing him.

This alarms Billy, because he fears that this latest deterioration will mark the point where Paul decides to take his own life.

He shares his fears with Summer, who decides to cancel her course in America so she can stay at home with her dads. Billy begs her not to put her dreams on hold for his sake, but he’s deeply worried about Paul.

There’s a karaoke night at the Rovers, and despite the fact that he’s already been struggling with his speech, Paul puts his and Billy’s names down to sing a duet of Stand By Me. Is this an entirely wise plan?

Billy is worried that it’s going to go badly and be a painful experience for Paul. Is he right to be concerned?