Coronation Street actor Peter Ash has said he felt “a lot of pressure” over his role in the soap’s motor neurone disease (MND) special.

The episode will see Ash’s character, Paul Foreman, who has the disease, spend his last day out with husband Billy Mayhew, played by Daniel Brocklebank, as his condition worsens, leaving him unable to use the stairlift to get in and out of his home.

It will be dedicated to the memory of rugby star Rob Burrow, who died in June after being diagnosed with MND in 2019 and visited the Coronation Street set in 2023.

Rob Burrow with sunglasses on in his chair
The episode will be dedicated to rugby star Rob Burrow, who died from MND in June 2024 (Danny Lawson/PA)

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Ash said Burrow’s visit helped him to “learn a lot” for the role, and added that he was “grateful” to the late Leeds Rhinos star and MND charities for trusting him.

He said: “There was quite a lot of pressure, especially when it’s something that real people live with in their life, so we just wanted to get that right really, and be sure that we portray it correctly.”

Ash was joined on the show by Brocklebank, who revealed that his grandfather died from MND 20 years ago.

Brocklebank said: “The research department, the writers, they’ve done an incredible job.

“Having lived in a very similar experience in real life, it’s given me, and both of us, a real confidence in knowing that we are getting it right, that we are portraying this correctly.

“Because it’s important – you’re telling real people’s stories.

“I think one of the main difficulties (of caring for someone with MND) is getting the housing adaptions sorted in time.

“So, people needing a stairlift, for example… by the time that stairlift and the funding arrives, they’re beyond needing the stairlift, and 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.”

Ash added that he hopes people will come away from the special episode understanding a bit more about what it is like to live with MND.

Coronation Street
A scene from Coronation Street in which a neurologist tells Paul Foreman, played by Peter Ash, that he is showing symptoms of motor neurone disease (ITV/PA)

He said: “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.”

A statement from Burrow’s father, Geoff, was then read out on air, in which he said it must have been a “hard decision” to make the episode.

He also praised the cast and crew for a “very balanced storyline that reflects the struggles that MND sufferers and their loved ones are going through”.

– The special episode of Coronation Street dedicated to Rob Burrow will air on ITV1 at 8pm on Friday July 26.