Coronation Street star Peter Ash has admitted that he had 'mixed feelings' about his latest storyline in which his character will receive the news he has motor neurone disease. The devastating, life-limiting diagnosis will be confirmed in scenes to air the ITV soap next month and comes after the character's struggles since a road accident.
Fans have been concerned for Paul ever since he was accidentally knocked over by Carla Connor in her Underworld van after unknowingly being drugged with LSD by Stephen Reid. Trips to the GP saw the builder told he has nerve damage that may take time to heal and was signed off work.
However, in the meantime, things haven't been getting better for Paul and soon he'll start to notice other issues with balance, mobility and dexterity and during scenes to air on Friday night (March 24), Paul will be referred to a specialist before, in early April, he is given the devastating news that it is very likely he has MND.
The diagnosis will then be confirmed later in the month. MND is a fatal, rapidly progressing disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. It attacks the nerves that control movement so muscles no longer work. MND does not usually affect the senses such as sight, sound and feeling but it can leave people locked in a failing body, unable to move, talk and eventually breathe.
Viewers will see Paul keeping the diagnosis from his partner Billy Mayhew and his family, confiding only in his flatmate Dee Dee Bailey. The storyline will then follow the progression of the disease as Paul initially deals with the illness alone and eventually has to break the news to his loved ones.
Speaking about his new storyline for the first time, Peter, who has played Paul regularly in Corrie since 2019, spoke about when he first heard what was to come for his character. "I think I was called into the producer Iain's office late last year," he told the Manchester Evening News and other press. "He said we've got this really big storyline, it should be a great thing to do but informally, it does mean an eventual exit.
"So I had mixed feelings. Obviously, I'll be sad to leave the show. It's been such an amazing job, I've met fantastic people, so I'll be sad to leave but at the same time [but] quite happy to be involved in a such powerful storyline that will hopefully bring awareness to it. So a double-edged sword."
On what Paul thinks before being referred to a specialist, Peter said: "At that point, it's all about him wanting to get back to work and get earning again. I don't think he has any idea that it's going to be so serious. For the longest while, he just thinks it's a trapped nerve or a weakness in his hand caused by the accident he had on the street but it does turn out the problems in his hand are nothing to do with that."
And upon finding out the truth, the actor added: "He gets informed they are going to be testing for MND and Paul doesn't really know what that is and he has to ask and when the consultant explains that these would be the symptoms if it is MND and I think from that point he goes into shock. In his own mind, Paul is not looking positively at it at all... When it sinks in, it turns his whole world upside down."
The storyline has also opened up a conversation between Peter and his co-star Daniel Brocklebank, who plays his partner Billy as Paul was completely unaware that Dan has personal experience with MND as his grandad was also diagnosed with the disease just before he died.
"It was not long after I was informed of the story and we all went out for drinks and I said to Dan, do you know what's happening to me [Paul], and he had had a call off Verity MacLeod [Corrie's assistant producer] but that was the first I'd heard Dan's grandfather had suffered with it," Peter said. "So that night he told me loads about it."
And it was, and is, important for Dan to be able to help Peter during filming. "Well help him but just shed some light on my personal experience of MND. It not only affects people physically but emotionally and not just from the shock of having it," Dan told us. "It can affect people's emotions. People can become very giggly in inappropriate moments or emotional or become very angry."
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