A series of unfortunate events led to Billy tragically not being by his husband Paul’s side when he took his last breath
Coronation Street star Daniel Brocklebank has told how Billy Mayhew is close to ‘tipping over the edge’ in the aftermath of Paul Foreman’s death.
A series of unfortunate events led to Billy tragically not being by his husband Paul’s side when he took his last breath, 17 months after being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, a life-limiting illness, where messages from the motor neurones gradually stop reaching the muscles and for which there is currently no cure.
The former builder was told had had the life-shortening disease, in which messages from the motor neurones gradually stop reaching the muscles, shortly after being knocked over by Carla Connor in an Underworld van.
Since being diagnosed with MND, Paul’s condition has continued to deteriorate, much to the frustration and sadness of Paul and the heartbreak of those around him. There were also emotional scenes in the summer when Billy organised a day out for Paul as his last day of freedom as it was deemed unsafe for him to use the flat’s stairlift any longer.
But during Monday night (September 9) Corrie, Paul quickly took a turn for the worse leading to Summer Spellman and Bernie Winter calling for an ambulance. At the same time, Billy was out having got drunk during a boy’s night out the evening before and lost his phone.
With his years of memories stored on the device, as well as it being the point of contact for when anything did happen to Paul and he wasn’t there, Billy went in search of his phone with the help of David Platt. It turned out it had been crushed in the car park and trying to find a solution, the pair headed on to Freshco to get a new device and use Billy’s own memory card.
But unbeknownst to Billy, Paul was slipping away at home and a frantic Kit Green headed out to look for him. Finding him at the supermarket, Billy knew something was wrong and before they could get on their way to the hospital, a traffic jam emerged in the car park, leaving Billy making the decision to run to Weatherfield General.
It was Bernie, Gemma and Summer who were all by Paul’s side and during Paul’s final moments, they tried to get Billy, who was running to the hospital after getting trapped in traffic in Frescho’s car park, on the phone, with him believing he had spoken to Paul. However, the trio of women wasn’t honest as Paul had already passed. Later, when Billy arrived, he was heartbroken to see a doctor confirming Paul was gone before bursting into the room and taking his husband in his arms for one last time.
Speaking about how Billy feels about not being there when Paul died, Daniel said: “Horrific. He’s been cheated out of those final goodbyes and those moments. And guilty, it’s his own stupidity. He got drunk, he lost his phone, he chose to go out the night before so it’s mixed emotions. He’s angry with himself, he feels guilty that he wasn’t there to say goodbye to Paul and therefore is grateful he got to speak to him in those final moments…”
Asked how Billy would feel to find out that the women in his life had lied to him about his last goodbye with Paul, Daniel shared to the Manchester Evening News: “I think it’s the only thing from tipping off the edge because he feels terribly guilty that he wasn’t there. I think it’s the only thing holding him together.
The family will soon turn to planning Paul’s funeral and Daniel has told how there will be conflict in upcoming scenes. Talking about Billy’s relationship with Bernie in the wake of Paul’s death, the soap star said: “”They are obviously quite different in their approach to life, and subsequently death as well.
“They’re both grieving for someone they love but both of them think they’ve got dibs on the grif stakes – one’s a mum, one’s a husband. BIlly’s very traditional, the funeral’s coming up and he wants hymns, Bernie wants pop songs. Billy wants a hearse, and Bernie wants something else. There is confliction over the next few weeks…”
