Corrie's testicular cancer story could save this fan's life

There's a very moving story in The Manchester Evening News that came via Corrie fan Emily Wray on Twitter this week.

Corrie fan Emily tweeted her thanks to ITV Coronation Street for Robert's testicular cancer storyline after it led her husband to have a potentially life-threatening lump removed.

Pic: Emily Wray

Shortly after Robert Preston’s testicular cancer story aired at the end of last year Emily's husband Scott Wray did a self check and ended up finding a lump. He was sent for an ultrasound and referred to a specialist and the ultrasound revealed a small tumour. Scott underwent surgery to remove the tumour at the weekend and he’s currently waiting to have a CT scan in the next couple days to check if it has spread.

Pic: Emily Wray via twitter

Emily told the MEN: “The lump was in a spot that he wouldn’t have ever noticed unless he was checking. He had no other symptoms. His doctor has repeatedly said that he’s very lucky Coronation Street made him check because it’s likely that it was found early enough. We absolutely love Coronation Street. This situation has definitely made us love and appreciate that show on a more personal level.”

Scott underwent an orchiectomy - surgery done to remove one or both testicles to treat or prevent testicular cancer - on Saturday.

Emily added: “It would be amazing if sharing Scott’s story could help someone else, awareness is so important.”

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Mikey North: Phelan storyline will run few more months

Mikey North, who plays Gary Windass in Coronation Street, was interviewed live on ITV's This Morning, er, this morning. 

He talked about Gary and Nicola's plan to bring down Phelan and said: "Gary and Nicola have concocted a plan to infiltrate Phelan's life, so Gary's got a job working on the mill with Phelan, because he thinks that he's hiding something. So now I'm going to try and find out what he is hiding down there – and that's going to run for the next couple of months."

Asked about the criticism that the Phelan storyline has attracted from fans (via Twitter, scraping of tweets as clickbait is where the newspapers increasingly are getting their stories from, groan... ) Mikey replied: "All I can say on the matter is that the viewing figures are up higher than they've been for a lot of years. So I think if people are switching off, then people are switching on as well for this. It's got people talking about it, hasn't it? People are talking about it and that's what Coronation Street want, isn't it?"

And asked about how long it will take for Phelan to get his comeuppance, Mikey said: "I'm not sure it's set in stone yet how Phelan's demise is going to happen. I know that this is the beginning of the end, shall we say. But I think we've got a few more months to run on it yet."

You can watch the interview here.

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Corrie Producer Kate Oates confirms Phelan's demise

There's a good bit of juicy information in The Radio Times online which says that Weatherfield villain Pat Phelan will "meet his maker" later in 2018.   

So, it does indeed sound as if he's being killed off!

We asked that very question just this morning. 

Speaking to Radio Times at this year’s Covers Party, Corrie producer Kate Oates also hinted at who will be instrumental in Phelan's death. 

She said: “2018 is going to see the demise of Phelan. Connor is so up for this challenge. He’s so excited about it and he’s playing it brilliantly. What I like about Phelan’s downfall is that it’s very much to do with Eileen. It’s to do with her realising who she’s married. It’s to do with Nicola and that child. You’ve got the high drama balanced out with the emotional family domestic drama, which is when I think Corrie is at its best.

“There’ll be a few twists and turns – we have some stunts coming up, which will be exciting,” she added.

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Julia Goulding on why Corrie is right to air male rape storyline

Julia Goulding, who plays Shona Ramsey on Coronation Street, was interviewed today on ITV's Lorraine. She was there to talk about the show's male rape storyline and says that she hopes talking about it will make the issue less taboo and those who have been abused can come forward for help.

Coronation Street has already revealed that the storyline will see David Platt drugged and raped by newcomer Josh.

Julia said that Corrie will be handling the story “really, really sensitively”. She said it was important to tell the hard-hitting story “to highlight it and get it out there and make it less taboo. And to give people the opportunity to speak out if they need to."

You can also read our blog post on why Coronation Street is right to air the male rape storyline

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Male mental health to be explored in Coronation Street

Last night, the Radio Times cover party took place at Claridges in London. And at the party, Coronation Street producer Kate Oates was interviewed by David Brown of Radio Times. 

She spoke about Corrie's upcoming male rape storyline and about the issues it will address and also about how Jack P Shepherd (David Platt) is handling preparations for the storyline.

Kate Oates told Radio Times: “I can’t wait to see what Jack P Shepherd does with that storyline. I know that the audience knows what’s going to happen. What’s really key for me, in my first six months of the year, is male mental health. David’s story is initially about rape but it’s actually about male mental health. That’s what I’m really passionate about.”

Speaking about how actor Jack P Shepherd is tackling the soap’s traumatic storyline, Kate Oates said:

“Jack is the person who always says, ‘I don’t talk to the producers about the storylines’. And actually, he’s come to meetings. We’ve sat down with researchers and we’ve gone to dinner. So he’s broken his own trend with that. He’s done his research, but he’s still very instinctive. He still feels that he knows that character better than anybody and that’s absolutely right. Jack will put his own spin on it and that is key.”

You might also like to read our blog post about why we think Coronation Street is right to air the male rape storyline.  It's here.

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Kym Marsh hosts Archie’s Footprint Ball

Coronation Street's Kym Marsh, who plays Michelle McDonald, was interviewed on ITV's  Lorraine this week. She was there to help promote Archie's Footprint Ball which takes place on Saturday 10th February.

It has been nine years since Kym tragically lost her son Archie, who passed away after being born 18 weeks premature. Kym went on to have daughter Polly (now 6) who was also born early, but who is thankfully happy and healthy.

“To be honest, I took the decision to not have any more children,” Kym explained, “I can’t have anymore children now. I made that decision after I had Polly. I don’t know if anybody knows this but I almost lost Polly as well, several times throughout the pregnancy, and it was very traumatic. I was on bed rest for months and she was still born very early, she was born seven weeks premature.

“Thankfully, she’s okay and really healthy. But it was traumatic, so I took the decision that I wasn’t going to do that, because I was lucky enough to have the three children that I’ve got, and I didn’t want to run that risk because it’s too painful.”

You can find out more about Archie’s Footprint Ball here. 

And there'll even be a Hear'Say reunion at the event too!

You can watch the video interview here.

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Should Pat Phelan be killed off - Yay or Nay?

His reign of terror must surely be coming to an end very soon. The net is closing in around him as Nicola and Gary work to undermine Pat Phelan and undo his evil wrongs. But will he get away with it? What do you think?

When Pat's crimes do come to light, and the bodies of Andy and Vinny are found (for surely they must be!), what do you think and hope will happen to Pat Phelan?

Should he be collared by the boys in blue and sent away for a long stretch - or, should he be killed off? I vote for the latter, to truly cement his fate as a top notch Coronation Street villain of the very worst kind.

But what do you think - Should Pat Phelan be killed off - Yay or Nay?

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