Dying Paul makes heart shattering request of Billy as the end nears in Coronation Street

It was back to school in tonight’s episode of Coronation Street, which left Paul Foreman (Peter Ash) feeling reflective.

Last year, Paul was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. Since then, we’ve watched the beloved character slowly say goodbye to his normal life as the illness has taken over his body.

A few months ago, Paul was told by a nurse that he could no longer use the stairlift due to his bones being so weak. This left Paul with no choice but to be confined to the four walls of his flat.

This development has seen Paul’s friends and family visit and hang out with him multiple times instead. In tonight’s episode this happened again, but the visit was…busy, to say the least.

Gemma Winter (Dolly-Rose Campbell) had arrived at the flat with Joseph (William Flanagan) and the quads. They were all going back to school and Gemma decided to surprise Paul by showing him the quads all dressed up in their new uniforms.

Once Bernie Winter (Jane Hazlegrove) arrived, Billy Mayhew (Daniel Brocklebank) got the family together for a group photo. As expected, it was chaotic and loud, but Paul loved every single minute.

That afternoon, with the children back at school, Paul had time to ponder over the morning and what he will miss out on with his nieces and nephews when he isn’t around.

Paul told Billy that he doesn’t want the quads and Joseph to ever forget him. There’s so much love in the Winter/Brown family, it’s absolutely guaranteed that won’t happen, but Billy understood why Paul was worrying.

Later this week, Paul will be seen being busy recording a manifesto of all the things he’d like Billy to do after he’s gone. However, when he attempts to play it to Billy and Summer Spellman (Harriet Bibby), the synthesiser runs out of power.

Summer takes charge and orders Billy to get some fresh air while Paul rests, but can Summer help Paul?

As the week draws to a close, long-lost brother Kit Green (Jacob Roberts) pops by to see Paul again.

Eventually, there’s a great deal of progress between the two brothers as they agree they should spend as much time together as possible in order to make up for the lost years.