Corrie’s Paul ‘slipping away’ as he takes a turn for the worse in tear-jerking clip

Coronation Street is set to tug on viewers’ heartstrings next week as Paul Foreman’s heartbreaking storyline comes to a critical juncture in one teary-eyed clip.

Soap enthusiasts have been following Paul (portrayed by Peter Ash) as he battles motor neurone disease, a condition that was diagnosed last year. Since the diagnosis, Paul’s condition has alarmingly worsened, with doctors warning that his time is sadly dwindling.

In the episodes soon to air, the emotional juncture reaches a peak when Paul’s loved ones, including his partner Billy Mayhew (Daniel Brocklebank) and his mother Bernie (Jane Hazlegrove), are faced with the agonising task of bidding farewell.

As the clock ticks down, Billy finds himself in a race against time to cherish every moment left. The tension ramps up: will Billy manage to bid adieu before Paul is urgently taken to hospital under the watchful eyes of his mum Bernie and Summer (Harriet Bibby)?

A sneak peek at Mondays episode (September 9) shows Paul’s condition seriously deteriorating, causing distress for his family, reports the Liverpool Echo. While Billy is out, searching frantically for his lost phone, dread grips Bernie and Summer as they fear Paul might be slipping away from them.

The situation escalates when Summer dials for an ambulance Bernie is left stunned watching her son struggle to breathe, and even more so when Summer tells her help is 15 minutes out.

“He might not have that long! ” screams Bernie, just as Paul’s brother Kit (Jacob Roberts) enters the scene. Bernie breaks it to him: “I think this could be it, he can hardly breathe.”

“He was fine the last time we checked. They warned us it might be quick, I can feel him slipping away,” she added, as panic set in among his family members.

“Where’s Billy? He should be here? ! ” Kit questioned, while Bernie tried to calm everyone down, assuring them he would arrive in time. Before Paul’s tragic exit from the soap, actor Peter revealed that there was “a lot of pressure” on him to accurately portray a character with MND.

In an exclusive chat with Liverpool Echo and other press, Peter shared: “When Ian MacLeod [Coronation Street’s boss] first told me I’d be doing this we had no idea of time scale, and also to what point we would take the deterioration of Paul.”

When asked if he felt a responsibility to “get the physicality” right, the soap star responded: “Not just the physicality, every aspect of the storyline because so many people are unfortunately living with it.”