Entertainment

'So much respect' for Kym Marsh as Coronation Street miscarriage storyline airs

'So much respect' for Kym Marsh as Coronation Street miscarriage storyline airs
'So much respect' for Kym Marsh as Coronation Street miscarriage storyline airs 'So much respect' for Kym Marsh as Coronation Street miscarriage storyline airs

Viewers of Coronation Street were in awe of Kym Marsh’s performance as her character Michelle Connor suffered a late-term miscarriage.

The storyline has been a long time coming for Corrie bosses, and was particularly jarring for the actress as she went through the experience herself in 2009.

Kym and her then partner Jamie Lomas had a son called Archie who was born 18 weeks early and died shortly after birth.

Coronation Street’s Kym Marsh and Simon Gregson as Michelle Connor and Steve McDonald (ITV)

She had to relive her past experience as Michelle lost her baby with Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) at 23 weeks in the ITV soap, and her performance during Wednesday night’s episode – which was preceded by an official warning – was greatly applauded by viewers watching at home.

Kym’s Corrie co-stars were also full of huge respect for her performance.

Following the broadcast, Kym, 40, shared her thanks for all the support.

The episode’s script was developed with advice from specialist bereavement group Sands, which ensured proper terminology and information was used so the story would relate to viewers who have had similar experiences.Creators were also conscious of portraying the issue of strain on health services by showing how Michelle spent her time in hospital in a ward full of crying babies.Producer Kate Oates said: “Steve asks for her to be taken to a different place but he is told that resources are such that those women need to be kept in the safest place.

“But the impact is still so hard so we need to talk about it. In my research I found the protocols around miscarriage have not changed in a long time and I was surprised to see how many outdated systems are in place.“That was a big part of us telling this story.”