Opinion: Paul’s special MND episode was Corrie at its best – here’s why

Tonight’s episode of Corrie (Friday, July 26), saw Paul and Billy have one ‘last day of freedom’ together, marking a sad turning point in Paul’s MND story.

These scenes saw Paul spend time with his family before contemplating ending his life towards the end of the episode.

Here’s why I think that Paul’s special episode was Corrie at its best. We’ll likely be talking about this for years to come.

Corrie: Paul Foreman’s special MND episode

This evening’s hour long episode of Coronation Street focused solely on the characters of Billy and Paul as they had one ‘last day of freedom’ before Paul was confined to his flat.

After being told that he could no longer use his stairlift, Billy took Paul out to enjoy all of his favourite things for one last time.

The couple revisited the church where they both got married, before heading over to the Rovers to spend time with their loved ones. David even turned a pint into a bubbly mixture so that Paul could taste it without his feeding tube.

Back in the flat and after having seen all of his family and friends, Paul then spent some time with Billy alone.

He then played a song that signalled to Billy that he wanted to end his life. Billy then begged Paul to reconsider.

As Billy started to go ahead with Paul’s plan, Chesney soon interrupted things by explaining that Carys had injured herself and had gone to hospital. The rest of the kids needed looking after.

With Ches having unknowingly prolonged Paul’s life, Paul was soon touched by a heartfelt conversation he had with Joseph.

The next day, Paul told Joseph that he’d ‘see him soon’ before telling Billy that he was still going to end his life, but ‘not today.’

An emotional insight into MND

There’s no denying that tonight’s episode was a hard watch, but that’s exactly what made the episode so impactful.

We’ve seen Paul struggle with his deterioration for quite some time, but this episode gave us a specific insight into Paul’s perspective of living with the disease.

It allowed us to spend the hour in Paul’s shoes, watching his speech deteriorate. The voiceover given by Paul highlighted the struggle he faces in communicating with his loved ones. He was desperate to say how he felt but couldn’t communicate to them.

This was especially difficult when Billy didn’t understand the most meaningful of phrases – ‘I love you.’

These scenes sensitively portrayed what it is like for Paul to feel trapped in his own body, with Paul’s deterioration affecting every aspect of his life.

Corrie has done a sensational job at portraying this story from the start, with the soap aiming to portray Paul’s MND journey as true to life as possible.

No aspect of his storyline has felt rushed, making tonight’s episode even more powerful. We’ve seen Paul struggle with so many symptoms over the last year, with his speech now being one of the final things to weaken. It’s fair to say that emotions were high when watching these scenes play out

A moment for Peter Ash

If there’s one actor who deserves all of the awards right now – it just has to be Peter Ash.

Peter Ash has often been praised for his performance throughout Paul’s MND journey, and tonight only cements these feelings.

Watching the episode, Peter’s depiction of Paul’s struggle was believable from start to end. Every aspect was heartbreakingly realistic, pulling on our heartstrings.

Peter Ash has proved yet again that he’s a force to be reckoned with – and there’s definitely going to be a huge and noticeable Peter Ash shaped hole on the soap when he inevitably exits. He’s bound to have a very bright future in acting, that’s for sure.

Corrie, we’re not ready for Paul’s death

Tonight, we came very close to losing Paul. We saw him say his goodbyes to his loved ones and almost go through with his wishes to end his life.

Whilst Paul may’ve chosen not to die ‘today,’ his upcoming death is inevitable and I for one am not emotionally ready. I don’t think I’ll ever be.

With an episode worthy of being in the cinema tonight, how can Paul’s death episode possibly top this? We’ll have to see…