Next week, viewers of the ITV soap will see Paul Foreman die, 17 months after being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease

Coronation Street star Peter Ash has said his exit ‘hasn’t sunk in’ yet as he spoke about his final scenes for the first time. Next week, viewers of the ITV soap will see his character Paul Foreman die, 17 months after being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease.

The former builder was told had had the life-shortening disease, in which messages from the motor neurones gradually stop reaching the muscles, in April 2023, shortly after being knocked over by Carla Connor in an Underworld van.

Since being diagnosed with MND, for which there is currently no cure, Paul’s condition has continued to deteriorate, much to the frustration and sadness of Paul and the heartbreak of those around him.

There has also been a special episode of Corrie in which Billy organised a day with Paul and enjoyed his last day of freedom before being confined to their flat due to it being unsafe to use the stairlift.

Paul and Billy visited the church where they married before David Platt gave him a taste of something he had been missing as he turned a beer into bubbles in the Rovers as some of his friends gathered together. He was also keen to spend time with his family, including his nieces and nephews, before calling for his mum to visit him.

He later signalled to Billy that the time had come for him to want to end his own life, which left his partner distraught. However, as the couple made devastating plans, they were interrupted by Chesney Brown, who revealed daughter Carys had an accident and that he and Gemma needed to go hospital so could they look after the other children.

The children couldn’t sleep as they all spent time with Paul in the sitting room and the next day, as they all left to go home, Paul told his family he would see them soon. Billy picked up on this as Paul decided: “Not today”, deciding he didn’t want to say goodbye just yet.

It’s now been confirmed that next week in Corrie, Paul will tragically die. Spoilers have revealed that whilst complaining of his hangover, Billy realises he’s lost his phone and is thrown into panic as it contains all of his photos and memories. As he sets off to retrace his steps, Summer Spellman and Bernie Winter are horrified to discover Paul unresponsive on the sofa, struggling to breathe.

Summer calls an ambulance but realising that Billy has left Paul at the worst possible time, with no way of contacting him, Bernie and Summer do everything they can to keep Paul alive. With the odds against him, will Billy make it in time to say his final goodbye to Paul?

Later, Billy wakes up on the sofa and stares at Paul’s empty wheelchair and is hit with the sad reality that life now goes on without Paul. Tensions are high between the family as they grieve the loss of Paul. Can they all come together to plan Paul’s funeral?

Speaking about his exit after watching his final scenes for the first time, ahead of them being aired on ITV on Monday (September 9), Peter told the Manchester Evening News and other press: “It’s not sunk in for me yet because I’ve still been in the building for press things and I still see Dan [Brocklebank] and Jane [Hazlegrove] and everyone.

“I said it probably wouldn’t sink in until I’d seen my final ep but it was very odd watching that. I’ve never played a character on telly who has died before so that was a strange one. But I’m sure it [his exit] will start sinking in now. It was very odd. It was the first time I’ve seen it. You rarely see episodes until they air unless there’s a press thing… As I said I’ve never seen myself as a character die before so it’s very strange.”

Since being told of the storyline, Peter has known his time on the soap would be coming to an end sooner rather than later. “I massively thank Iain and Verity [MacLeod] for trusting me with this story,” he told us. “It’s a double-edged sword. I always knew it would be an eventual exit unless we were lucky enough to find a cure [for MND] in that time…

“But I always knew it would be [his exit] and I’m just, again, grateful that they trusted me to play the storyline and allowed it to play out, there was never a ‘this is when it’s going to end’. I was always quite surprised when I’d ring Iain and he’d say, ‘Right, this is what’s happening for the next six months…’ But it was amazing.”