Coronation Street stars Peter Ash and Daniel Brocklebank have admitted they felt "pressure" when filming the soap’s special episode.
The pair play Paul Foreman and Billy Mayhew, respectively, on the ITV soap, with the current storyline seeing their characters persevere amidst Paul’s diagnosis of Motor Neurone Disease (MND).
This week’s (July 24) scenes will see Paul's condition progress, with Friday's (July 26) single-strand episode set to focus on the married couple as Billy takes his husband on a day trip to ease his mind.
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The episode will be dedicated to former rugby league player Rob Burrow, who passed away last month (June 2) after a five-year battle with MND, and Ash recalled during an interview with BBC Breakfast that Burrow’s on-set visit helped him.
"I learned a lot [from Burrow] – I was so grateful," said Ash, who has played Paul for the last six years. "There was quite a lot of pressure, especially when it’s something that real people live with in their life.
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"So we just wanted to get that right really, and be sure that we portray it correctly. I knew very little about this before I started – I imagine a lot of people still don’t – so it would be great to raise awareness, and keep banging that drum for MND."
Brocklebank, who debuted as Billy in 2014, also shared his own personal connection to the storyline after revealing that his grandfather had died after a battle with MND, saying: "The research department, the writers, they’ve done an incredible job.
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"Having lived through a very similar experience in real life, it's given both of us a real confidence in knowing that we are getting it right [and] that we are portraying this correctly - it's important [because] you’re telling real people’s stories.
"I think one of the main difficulties [of caring for someone with MND] is getting the housing adaptations sorted in time – people needing a stairlift, for example. By the time that stairlift and the funding arrives, they’re beyond needing the stairlift – they need that and something else.
"So that's something that is really frustrating, and also what we're telling in this story is that people assume that the brain isn't working. So I hope this episode will really highlight what it’s like for somebody who lives with MND."
Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.
Read more Coronation Street spoilers on our dedicated homepage
Coronation Street has been working on Paul's storyline with support from the MND Association, which focuses on improving access to care, research and campaigning for people affected by motor neurone disease.
The charity's helpline MND Connect (0808 802 6262) is available Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm, and 7pm to 10.30pm. Calls are free.
