Coronation Street actor speaks out over ‘tragic death’ theory as he teases soap future

Paul Foreman has left an empty space Billy Mayhew is struggling to fill – and his grief may lead him down a fatal path.

The Coronation Street character recently decided to quit his job as archdeacon to return to his regular vicar duties instead, but his daughter Summer Spellman was immediately concerned for him as it is clear Billy Mayhew is fighting an uphill battle with his grief.

In scenes due to air on ITV, Billy’s struggle takes deadly proportions when a video of Paul’s ashes being released into space, courtesy of his grieving mother Bernie, is shown and Billy lets slip that he made a pass at Todd Grimshaw after his beloved husband’s funeral.

Later on, Billy finds himself drinking alone behind the factory and listens to voice clips of Paul as he falls asleep in the bitter cold. Actor Daniel Brocklebank has since teased what to expect in the soap – but will Billy be found in time?

Speaking about his character’s state of mind, Daniel – who has been a regular fixture on the Manchester-based programme since his 2014 debut – said: “He’s just hammered. He doesn’t want to go back to the flat, because everything in the flat reminds him of Paul and everything that they had together. Paul’s stuff is there, but Paul isn’t so what’s the point in being in the flat.”

During Paul’s ordeal with motor neurone disease, Billy took it upon himself to take care of his husband on a constant basis. With the builder now gone, “he’s got 24 hours every day to fill, and he doesn’t know how to fill them. He’s just filled with regret and despair and grief.”

“And so he goes and buys a bottle of whiskey and sort of just staggers across the road. I’m not entirely sure why. He chooses to just end up on a wooden crate behind the factory. He isn’t suicidal he is just beyond caring anymore”, Daniel explained. But death may not be in the cards for Billy.

“Ultimately, he’s quite an intelligent person, you know, emotionally and intellectually. And I think it’s just time that he needs”, the soap star continued. “Everybody deals with grief in different ways but something happens to him when he is drifting in and out of consciousness drunk and freezing cold and that will massively help him going forward.” Who will save him?

While this remains to be seen, Billy was dealt a massive blow when Bernie Winter (Jane Hazlegrove) told him Paul had died before he could reach his hospital bedside, thus depriving the vicar of a proper goodbye with his other half. But how will he recover?

Elsewhere in the cobbles, Joel Deering’s murder continues to cause a stir in Weatherfield and on social media, with many residents having more than enough motive to kill the duty solicitor.