One of Coronation Street’s most-loved characters will commit suicide in a shocking assisted suicide storyline on Monday that has caused huge controversy and debate.
Haley Cropper will take her own life with the help of husband Roy rather than face the prospect of a painful and drawn out death from the terminal pancreatic cancer she is suffering from.
Of course The Street is not new to shocking and controversial deaths as part of the ongoing story of the lives of ordinary Manchester folk.
MM takes a look back at some of the storylines that have grabbed the news headlines.
5. The Killing of Ernest Bishop (1978)
In the days before lots of people ran round firing guns at people (other than on The Sweeney), the death of Emily Bishop’s husband Ernest caused shock and outrage across the country.
When the actor who played the character resigned from the soap following a dispute with the producers, the writers searched for a way to kill him off without doing the same to Emily.
The decision was made for Ernest to be killed off in a bungled robbery at Mike Baldwin’s factory, where he worked as a wages clerk.
He was killed by a single gunshot to the stomach on the 11 January 1978.
It was the first time that violence on such a scale had been shown on Coronation Street and after the episode was aired, Granada’s switchboard was inundated by angry viewers.
Hundreds of letters of complaint were received, and the Lobby Against TV Violence fiercely objected to Granada’s decision to broadcast the episode.
4. The Killing of Brian Tilsley (1989)
In a storyline that seemed to predict the plague of knife related deaths in the UK in the last 20 years, Coronation Street courted controversy again with the a bold way to kill off another long-standing character.
When actor Christopher Quentin, who played Gail’s first husband Brian, told producers he wanted to leave the show to move to America to further his career, they decided to kill the character off.
Brian Tilsley’s death episode aired on 15 February 1989. After leaving a nightclub in the early hours he tried to protect a young woman who was being hassled by a group of thugs outside. During the confrontation Brian was stabbed in the stomach and died from his injuries.
The scene resulted in a huge number of complaints from viewers and from Mary Whitehouse, a campaigner against violence on television, who was outraged by the programme.
3. The Murder of Maxine Peacock (2003)
The Street surpassed itself with the introduction of the first serial killer on the cobbles in 2002 when Richard Hillman joined the show as a relative of the late Alma Baldwin.
He soon became a regular in the series offering financial advice to residents and buying the house of Emily Bishop, in an arrangement where she would have the right to live in it for her lifetime, but on her death, Hillman would inherit the house.
He married that lover of wedding cake Gail Platt and his character took on very dark twist. First he left business partner Dougie Ferguson to die after a fall from a balcony and then murdered his ex-wife and buried her under a housing development he was building.
After failing to kill Audrey Roberts in a house fire to get his hands on her money, his financial difficulties caused him to turn his attention to Emily Bishop. He planned to murder Emily and then inherit her house.
While Emily was babysitting Ashley and Maxine Peacock’s baby he broke into their house and hit her on the head with a crowbar. Unfortunately Maxine returned just as he was about to finish Emily off and he brutally attacked her with the weapon. She died but Emily survived.
The violence was graphic and although unseen caused a number of complaints from shocked viewers.
Happily for everyone the evil Hillman died after crashing the car containing the entire Platt family into the canal.
2. The Death of Katie Harris (2005)
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any stranger there was the demise of the Harris family culminating in the suicide of daughter Katy and the jailing of mother Angela.
The Harris family joined The Street in 2002, initially under a different name as they were in the witness protection programme after the mother had given evidence in a gangland murder trial.
Following her diagnosis with diabetes Katy began a relationship with Martin Platt, who was 20 years her senior, much to the fury of her father Tommy.
In March 2005 Katy beat her father to death with a wrench after he caused her the break up of her relationship with Martin.
Her mother Angela took the blame for the murder because she feared that Katy would not survive in prison. Overwhelmed with guilt Katy committed suicide by drinking a bag of sugar mixed with coke and not taking her insulin.
She left a note exonerating her mother who was sent to for four years for perverting the course of justice.
1. The Death of Joe McIntyre (2010)
Men on Corrie don’t seem to learn that marrying Gail nearly always ends in tragedy.
Kitchen fitter Joe McIntyre found out the hard way after what can only be described as a torrid time on the cobbles when he died while trying to fake his own death.
Joe came onto the street as the father of Rovers barmaid Tina McIntyre in May 2008 and soon began a secret romance with Gail.
After battling financial difficulties and addiction to prescription medications things take a turn for the worse for Joe when he married Gail.
That inevitably means a sad demise for the character and so it was to prove. In an effort to escape all of his financial worries Joe decides the only course open for him is to fake his own death by pretending he had fallen overboard from a boat in the Lake District!
When he explained his plan to a horrified Gail she tried to stop him by getting into the boat with him but he pushes her away and sets sail.
His plan goes horribly wrong though and he gets into difficulties and loses the lifeboat he was going to make his escape in. He attempted to get the lifeboat back but slipped into the water and drowns in the freezing water.
In a further twist Gail is charged with murdering Joe after her forged signature is found on a life insurance policy taken out by him before his death. She was tried and acquitted of his murder but in a matter of concern for all Corrie’s male character is currently single.
Image and videos courtesy of ITV via YouTube, with thanks.
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