Coronation Street stars have shared their ‘grief’ and heartbreak over ‘losing’ one cast member after they left the soap in a recent sad storyline, following a harrowing storyline

Three Coronation Street stars recently opened up on their “grief” after having to say goodbye to a pal and co-star as a “harrowing” storyline came to a devastating end.

The stars involved were left “mourning” their friend as he exited the soap for good, just as their characters mourned the death of the character he played. Peter Ash recently bowed out as fan favourite Paul Foreman in heartbreaking scenes.

Paul had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease last year and earlier this month he sadly died. In a heartbreaking twist, his husband Billy Mayhew didn’t make it to the hospital in time and could not be with him as he died.

In the fallout, Paul’s loved ones have been left grief-stricken by his loss, with viewers left devastated too. Speaking to The Mirror and other press, Peter’s co-stars have confessed they were left “grieving” too, feeling “the loss” of their friend who had to leave the show as part of the storyline.

Unable to see him every day and film with him going forward, Peter’s pals Daniel Brocklebank, Harriet Bibby and Jane Hazlegrove all admitted feeling a sense of loss with his departure. They recalled their characters mourning Paul just as they were left gutted to say goodbye to Peter in real life, while they vowed to stay in touch.

Three Coronation Street stars recently opened up on their ‘grief’ after having to say goodbye to a pal and co-star (Image: ITV)

With scenes filmed in chronological order for Paul’s final episodes, it meant Paul’s death scene was also Peter’s final scene to be filmed. Actor Daniel admitted this was “harrowing” as he was bidding farewell to co-star Peter as Billy was saying goodbye to Paul.

He explained: “It’s harrowing. We’ve been building up to this moment for 18 months. We shot chronologically so that scene where Billy arrives and holds onto Paul who’s passed, that was Pete’s last scene.

“We knew when that moment happens Peter was gonna be leaving. We were all grieving Paul as we were grieving Pete, our friend. We all get on, so to lose someone you adore working with every day is rubbish. It was harrowing on both ends.”

Summer actress Harriet agreed: “When all the characters were saying goodbye to their son and husband and brother and dad, we were saying goodbye to our friend and it was tough.” She went on: “It’s also rare that here we get to film chronologically because of the way schedules work and things like that, but it was quite strange that in Paul’s last few days, it was Pete’s last few days.

“When we were filming the aftermath you really felt, ‘he’s gone!'”. Jane added: “We really missed him. It was like we were waiting for him to walk back through the door.”

Coronation Street airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITV X.