Entertainment

Coronation Street’s Gail will propose to Jesse Chadwick after heart attack

It comes after Helen Worth, who has played Platt family matriarch Gail for 50 years, announced she would be leaving the ITV soap this year.

Gail Rodwell is to propose on the next episode of Coronation Street
Gail Rodwell is to propose on the next episode of Coronation Street (Matt Crossick/PA)

Coronation Street actor John Thomson has said Gail Rodwell will propose to his character Jesse Chadwick after suffering a heart attack on Wednesday’s episode.

It comes after Helen Worth, who has played Platt family matriarch Gail for 50 years, announced she would be leaving the ITV soap this year.

Wednesday’s episode saw Jesse spot Gail breathing unsteadily and clutching her arm while searching for a bicycle pump, before phoning an ambulance which took her to hospital.

John Thomson has recently returned to the cobbles
John Thomson has recently returned to the cobbles (Ian West/PA)

Speaking on ITV’s This Morning, 55-year-old Thomson explained what would happen next in tonight’s episode.

He said: “So what happens is I visit Gail in hospital, and she’s post cardiac arrest, so second heart attack, and I’m allowed to say this, Gail proposes to me.

“I can’t say anymore, because she’s heavily medicated, so I don’t know if her intentions are true.”

Thomson said 73-year-old Worth was a “joy to work with”, along with the rest of the actors who play members of the Platt family.

He added: “She is (an integral part of Coronation Street), they’re a joy to work with the Platts, funny people as well.

“But they shoot everything out of sequence, one minute we’re having a laugh in the Platts’ house, next minute I’m running alongside a gurney, you sort of run the full gamut of emotions in a day’s work.

“It’s been a joy, and it’s great because Helen’s been in it 50 years, and you see photos, and you go, oh, who was he? And what was he like? She’s got great stories, incredible.”

It comes after Worth’s exit storyline was thrown into uncertainty after Sean Wilson – who played her ex-husband Martin Platt – announced his departure from the soap for “personal reasons”.

The 59-year-old last appeared on the cobbles six years ago and was set to re-appear on screen this month as part of Worth’s departure.

When asked about a potential new replacement storyline, an ITV spokesperson said: “Sean Wilson has stepped down from filming for personal reasons.”

Speaking about replacing Wilson, Thomson said: “It was just quiet, the year before had been brilliant, but this year I went, please I need a job.

“I got the call, and they went, Corrie, will you come back? And I went, yeah.

“I wasn’t sure what the deal was, it was weird, what the storyline was, anyway, knowing now what the storyline is, it’s Coronation Street history.”

At the time of Wilson’s departure, the broadcaster said it would not be commenting further on the situation, after previously saying Worth would leave following a “major storyline for the Platt family”.

Coronation Street will return on ITV1 on October 27 at 8pm, with the next episode available to watch on ITVX.