Aidan Connor to take his own life - Shayne Ward speaks about 'important' storyline

Show bosses hope the storyline will encourage others in a similar position to speak up and seek help

Coronation Street bosses are to highlight the issue of male suicide next week when factory boss Aidan Connor (Shayne Ward) takes his own life.

Viewers will last see Aidan on Monday 7^th May, when he visits ex fiancé Eva in Lymm, before returning to the Rover’s for Johnny and Jenny’s leaving party. His final scene will see him back at his flat, alone.

In an hour-long episode on Wednesday 9^th May, Aidan’s father Johnny (Richard Hawley) will let himself into Aidan’s Victoria Street flat when he son fails to turn up for work - only to discover Aidan’s lifeless body.

Johnny will discover his son's body

Corrie bosses have stressed that no element of the suicide will be shown on screen.

Actor Shayne Ward, the show’s writers and production team have worked closely with Samaritans and mental health charity CALM to ensure the storyline is handled realistically and sensitively.

Says Shayne: “Aidan is an ‘everyman’ figure, he is someone men can identify with, which is important in telling this story, We hope that anyone who recognises something of themselves in Aidan will realise they can, and really should, talk about how they’re feeling.

“Talking could have helped Aidan turn his life around. It could have brought him relief from what he was going through . This is what his loved ones would have wanted. Suicide is a very permanent response to what are usually temporary problems.

“We all know someone who has maybe felt like Aidan did, someone who found it hard to talk, and we have all heard stories like Aidan’s when it was too late, when people looked back and wished they had spotted the signs, but it isn’t always possible. If we can encourage someone who is feeling low, who is having the sort of thoughts Aidan was having, to realise they need to talk, then we have achieved what we set out to with this story.”

Aidan’s suicide comes off the back of a recent plot in which hairdresser David Platt (Jack P Shepherd) was raped by mechanic Josh Tucker (Ryan Clayton). Both stories are part of an effort by show boss Kate Oates to shine a light on male mental health.

Alison Slade has over 20 years of experience as a TV journalist and has spent the vast majority of that time as Soap Editor of TV Times magazine. She is passionate about the ability of soaps to change the world by presenting important, issue-based stories about real people in a relatable way. There are few soap actors that she hasn’t interviewed over the years, and her expertise in the genre means she has been called upon as a judge numerous times for The British Soap Awards and the BAFTA TV Awards.

When she is not writing about soaps, watching soaps, or interviewing people who are in soaps, she loves going to the theatre, taking a long walk or pottering about at home, obsessing over Farrow and Ball paint.