It was an emotional night in Coronation Street tonight as Debbie Webster (Sue Devaney) was told she may have young onset dementia in heartbreaking scenes.
Debbie has recently been struggling with memory loss and switches in her personality. In previous frightening scenes, she was seen mysteriously passed out in an alleyway. The incidents were played back in the form of flashbacks, with fans gaining more insight into what’s been happening.
In tonight’s episode, Debbie was seen attending an appointment at the doctor’s. She was then told that she’d had a TIA (transient ischaemic attack), but that wasn’t all, as she was told she may have young onset dementia.
“I’m not in a position to make a concrete diagnosis hence the referral,” the doctor said. “My concern is that the body of your symptoms, together with the TIA, might indicate the early onset of dementia.” Debbie was left in tears, but decided to keep it to herself.
Heartbroken fans took to X, formerly known as Twitter after the episode, begging the soap not to get rid of the character. One fan penned: “Watching tonight’s #corrie and this whole dementia storyline with Debbie is gonna be so sad. Worst decision getting rid of her!” A second agreed: “Watching a concert tonight so I saw #Corrie early. No spoilers but Debbie stole the show. The producers must be mad getting rid of her)”.
“Brilliant storyline with Debbie in #Corrie Please don’t get rid of her,” echoed a third, while a fourth penned: “They CAN’T get rid of Debbie Webster – they simply can’t! #Corrie.”
Others were praising Sue for her show stopping performance. “Wow Debbie in tonight’s corrie give her all the awards,” commented one, as another said: “Today’s #Corrie is heart-breaking. I don’t want to lose Debbie, she’s an icon, but Sue Devaney did an incredible job.”
Earlier today, Sue appeared on This Morning to chat about the heartbreaking storyline with hosts Sian Welby and Dermot O’Leary. During the chat, Sue revealed that she told producer Kate Brooks that she didn’t want to know how Debbie’s story ends.
“I don’t want to know what’s coming up, I just want to get the scripts just because it is so long, I’d rather just know when I’m filming it,” she said.
“Kate called me into the office and she said we’ve got this brilliant story, and we want to give Debbie dementia,” she said.
“And obviously, down the line, you don’t survive dementia. So I knew that the story would eventually come to an end and my character would come to an end. There was a mixture of a lot of things,” she continued.
Last month, it was revealed that Debbie’s character would be killed off after 41 years. Speaking on This Morning, Sue revealed it was going to be difficult to say goodbye to Coronation Street, which was her first job when she was 16. “I left after a year and now it will be coming to an end again. But I also realised this was a really important story to tell and is a really fantastic opportunity to act,” she said.
Coronation Street airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITV X.
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