End of an ERA

PETER ASH on saying farewell to Corrie following Paul’s heart-wrenching storyline

- ALISON SLADE

CORONATION STREET
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The love story of Weatherfield vicar Billy Mayhew and ‘rough diamond’ Paul Foreman comes to a tearful end this week when the latter passes away, having been diagnosed with motor neurone disease last year.

Here, Coronation Street star Peter Ash, 39, who has played Paul since 2018, talks to TV Times about his emotional journey in the ITV1 soap…

What was it like to film your final scene?

It was quite an easy scene, technically, because I just had to lie there. But it was emotional, and very hard not to react when the other characters were saying goodbye.

I still don’t think it has properly hit me that I’ve left Corrie, and I don’t think it will until I watch the final episode. Daniel [Brocklebank, who plays Billy] and the others have been filming the aftermath and the grieving, and I probably will grieve a bit myself when it sinks in.

When were you first told about this story, and what was your reaction?