Coronation Street’s Peter Ash reveals new role and admits it’s a ‘massive change’

Coronation Street fans are bracing themselves for an emotional rollercoaster as Paul Foreman’s devastating MND storyline reaches its climax this week.

In a race against time, Billy Mayhew scrambles to be by his husband Paul’s side, marking actor Peter Ash’s poignant exit from the soap after joining in 2018. Paul has been courageously battling Motor Neurone Disease, which has robbed him of his speech and motor functions over the past months. “It was absolutely emotional,” Peter confessed about filming his final scenes.

“It was very hard not to reach when they’re saying their goodbyes and I’m pretending to be on the way out.” A night out with David injects a moment of lightness before Billy (played by Daniel Brocklebank) is struck with terror upon realising he’s lost his phone, filled with irreplaceable memories of Paul. At the same time, Paul is discovered unconscious at home by Summer and Bernie, who find themselves unable to reach Billy.

Daniel Brocklebank shares: “Billy is full of regret, full of fear.” He continues: “He starts to retrace his steps but obviously he’s panicking because he needs to be contactable 24/7 because of Paul. When he kisses Paul goodbye rather flippantly, he obviously has no idea that that is the last time he’s ever going to see him,” reports OK!.

It turns out that Billy wasn’t the only one left in the dark; Daniel himself was clueless that he was filming his last scene with Peter. “We finished that scene and Pete said, ‘You know that’s our last scene together.’ I went, ‘What? ‘ We don’t always film in story order when we’re shooting so I hadn’t registered that and I burst into tears. It’s been such a whirlwind.”

Viewers are on the edge of their seats wondering if Billy will make it to Paul in time for a proper goodbye, but Peter confesses that his exit from the role hasn’t quite sunk in yet. “I don’t think it has properly hit me yet and I don’t think it will until I see the final episode – it just feels like I’ve had a long break,” he admits.

“I will grieve myself when it sinks in. That’s it – I’m not going to see Paul again. I’m dreading it. It has been an amazing ride.” Peter, who has dedicated himself to supporting MND charities throughout the storyline, revealed that the response from the MND community has been “incredible”.

He shared: “They have been a massive help. I’ve met some great people and I’ve been going to as many fundraisers as the schedule allows. They’ve got me forever now!” Daniel added that Paul’s story has even impacted the lives of some individuals living with MND, bringing hope and awareness to their struggles.

“One woman who is living with MND contacted me to say that because of this storyline, people now know how to talk to her,” he added. “She said, ‘For the first time in a long time, I’m actually being spoken to like a person.’ So we were thrilled with the response.” The star is having a well-deserved break but is raring to get back to work.

“I’m doing panto and I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “I’m doing Aladdin [at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in Oldham] and I’m the bad guy. That will be great fun, such a change from this. But right now, I’m enjoying a bit of time off and the lie-ins.” And it seems as though this might not be the last that Corrie fans see of Peter. “I’m still popping in to see people,” he revealed. “They’ve not seen the last of me – they can’t get rid of me that easily!”