Coronation Street’s Daniel Brocklebank admits real grief after ‘harrowing’ storyline death and says ‘it’s rubbish’

There were heartbreaking scenes as viewers saw Billy Mayhew miss saying goodbye to his husband Paul Foreman as he died

Coronation Street star Daniel Brocklebank has admitted the real ‘grief’ behind his latest heartbreaking scenes as viewers saw Billy Mayhew miss saying goodbye to his husband Paul Foreman as he died.

Billy, played by Daniel in the ITV soap since 2014, has spent almost every waking moment with Paul, played by Peter Ash, as his health deteriorated after being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in April 2023.

There were emotional scenes during a special episode of Corrie over the summer 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.

Following their day together, Paul 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 to the 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.

But during Monday night’s (September 9) Corrie, viewers watched Paul slip away, 17 months after receiving his MND diagnosis. And in a tragic turn of events, Billy didn’t make it to the hospital in time to fulfill his promise of being by Paul’s side when the time came, thinking he’d only managed to say he loved him one last time over the phone.

However, as viewers know, Paul had already passed as Summer Spellman got Billy, who was running to the hospital after getting trapped in traffic in Frescho’s car park, on the phone. Paul’s mum Bernie Winter encouraged Billy to say what he needed to Paul while Summer and Gemma Winter watched on with devastation.

**Billy was in a race to get to the hospital in time** (Image: ITV)

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 filming the scenes in which Billy tried desperately to make it to the hospital, Daniel described them as “harrowing”. He continued: “We’ve been building up to this moment for 18 months, us as actors, so when we got that final block in, it was like, ‘Oh my God, we’re here!’

“It felt so far ahead in the future when we were first initially pitched the storyline so for us as characters it was harrowing but for us as actors, we pretty much shot everything chronologically so the scene where Billy arrives and holds onto Paul who’s already passed, was Pete’s last scene.

“So we knew that when that moment happened, Pete was going to be leaving and Billy, Gemma, Bernie and Summer are grieving Paul but we’re grieving Pete, our friend. To lose someone that you adore working with every day is rubbish. So it was harrowing on both levels.”

Discussing how Billy feels about not being there when Paul died, Daniel added: “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…”