‘I was killed off on Coronation Street – filming my death scene was tricky for this reason’

A beloved Coronation Street actor has opened up about the emotional experience of filming his character’s death scene.

Peter Ash, who has portrayed Paul Foreman on the popular ITV soap since 2018, is preparing for his character’s exit following a diagnosis of motor neurone disease last year – a storyline first for Coronation Street. Viewers have watched as Paul initially struggled with his grip before being referred to a neurologist for tests. With no cure available, Paul’s death is sadly inevitable.

His speech and mobility have progressively worsened, leading to a shocking confession earlier this year where he expressed his desire to choose when his life should end. Paul’s final episode will air on Monday, September 9, showing him succumbing to MND. His partner Billy Mayhew (played by Daniel Brocklebank) and mother Bernie (Jane Hazlegrove) are forced to bid their farewells.

Spoilers indicate that Billy abandons Paul at his most vulnerable moment, leaving to find his lost phone. Unable to contact him, Bernie and Summer do everything in their power to keep Paul alive, reports the Liverpool Echo. But with the odds stacked against them, will Billy return in time to say his final goodbye?

Peter Ash has now shared his thoughts on filming his last scene, admitting there was one “tricky” moment. Speaking to the Liverpool Echo and other press, he said: “It was a beautiful scene. It was quite hard to not get emotional during the scene.”

He revealed the emotional challenge of filming his departure: “The other cast members are giving those beautiful goodbyes, and I’ve got to pretend to not hear it.”

Filming his final moments was not without its difficulties, as Peter shared: “And especially once he does pass, it’s that thing of trying not to breathe at all, which gets a bit tricky after a while!”

Peter reminisced about his concluding episode, being careful not to spoil it: “But the scene in general, it was just a beautiful way to end it. Obviously, I’m not going to give anything away apart from that, but it was great to have all my favourites there in my last scene.”

He also talked about the pressure of accurately representing a character with MND: “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.”

Finally, when asked about the importance of portraying the condition authentically, he stressed: “Not just the physicality, every aspect of the storyline because so many people are unfortunately living with it.”