Paul Foreman’s devastating MND storyline reaches a dramatic conclusion on Coronation Street this week as husband Billy races home to be at Paul’s deathbed. After making his debut on the cobbles in 2018, Peter Ash stars in his final scenes as fan-favourite Paul, who has been slowly robbed of his speech and movement by Motor Neurone Disease over the last year.
“It was absolutely emotional,” Peter says. “It was very hard not to reach when they’re saying their goodbyes and I’m pretending to be on the way out.” After letting his hair down for once and spending a night drinking with David, Billy wakes up hungover to find that he’s lost his phone – and all the memories of Paul on it. As Billy – played by Daniel Brocklebank – sets off to find it, Paul is discovered unresponsive on the sofa by Summer and Bernie, who have no way of contacting Billy.
“Billy is full of regret, full of fear,” Daniel says. “He starts to retrace his steps but obviously he’s panicking because he needs to be contactable 24/7 because of Paul. When he kisses Paul goodbye rather flippantly, he obviously has no idea that that is the last time he’s ever going to see him.” Billy isn’t the only one, with Daniel admitting that he also didn’t realise that he was filming his final scene opposite Peter initially. “We finished that scene and Pete said, ‘You know that’s our last scene together.’ I went, ‘What?’ We don’t always film in story order when we’re shooting so I hadn’t registered that and I burst into tears. It’s been such a whirlwind.”
While we’ll have to wait to see whether Billy makes it to Paul in time to say goodbye, Peter admits that he hasn’t processed his own farewell to the Corrie character. “I don’t think it has properly hit me yet and I don’t think it will until I see the final episode – it just feels like I’ve had a long break,” Peter says. “I will grieve myself when it sinks in. That’s it – I’m not going to see Paul again. I’m dreading it. It has been an amazing ride.”
Having worked with MND charities throughout the storyline, Peter says that the reaction from the community has been “incredible”. He says, “They have been a massive help. I’ve met some great people and I’ve been going to as many fundraisers as the schedule allows. They’ve got me forever now!” Daniel adds that Paul’s story has even made a difference for some of those with MND. “One woman who is living with MND contacted me to say that because of this storyline, people now know how to talk to her,” he continued. “She said, ‘For the first time in a long time, I’m actually being spoken to like a person.’ So we were thrilled with the response.”
After a well-deserved holiday, Peter is now back to work – and his next role couldn’t be further from Paul Foreman. “I’m doing panto and I’m really looking forward to it,” he smiles. “I’m doing Aladdin [at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in Oldham] and I’m the bad guy. That will be great fun, such a change from this. But right now, I’m enjoying a bit of time off and the lie-ins.” He may have been killed off, but Peter admits that he won’t stop going down to the Corrie set. “I’m still popping in to see people.” he says. “They’ve not seen the last of me – they can’t get rid of me that easily!”
