'It reached out to so many people'
Coronation Street star Kym Marsh has revealed the highlight of her thirteen year stint playing Michelle Connor as the moving plot in which her character suffered a late miscarriage and lost son Ruairi.
The story aired in 2017 and mirrored Kym’s own experience in 2009, when son Archie tragically passed away after being born at 21 weeks.
Reflecting on her many storylines in the soap, Kym says: “Over the years, I’ve had some really funny stories with Simon Gregson (Steve McDonald). He was my screen partner for the best part of ten years, and that’s not easy, because you can’t do anything without laughing at him!
“But I guess the story I’m most proud of is Michelle’s baby loss storyline. I was proud of myself for being able to get through it in the first place, because it was obviously tricky to put yourself back in the place where you didn’t want to be.
"But it was absolutely the right thing to do, because the reasons I wanted to do it were valid and we proved that by the response we got.”
The 43 year old adds: ‘I ended up sitting in front of Jeremy Hunt and having a meeting with him about trying to change the laws surrounding birth certificates (the death of a baby up to 23 weeks into a pregnancy is referred to as a ‘late miscarriage’, and parents are not issued with a birth certificate).
“People knew that I’d lost a child but because we did that story, it reached out to so many people. And Corrie were fantastic in the sense that they didn’t shy away from the reality of the story.
"It would’ve been really easy to take away some of the really harrowing bits because it might have upset someone, but they told it in its entirety, and I was really pleased with that.”
The star was speaking at a Coronation Street press event, ahead of Michelle’s exit from the cobbles.
Her character is due to bow out in the coming weeks. Off-screen, Kym has decided to take a break from the soap to pursue other projects, and has already filmed her final scenes..
On her departure, the actress admits: “I’m so busy, it hasn’t really hit me yet. I think it’ll be New Year before it hits home.”
Coronation Street continues on ITV.
