SoapWatcher
26-03-2005, 22:26
From Yahoo news
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Coronation Street's Mike Baldwin is to be struck down by Alzheimer's disease in a dramatic TV storyline.
Millions of Street fans will see the bubbly factory boss in a gradual decline from the devastating condition as his forgetfulness gets worse.
Mike, played by veteran Street star, Johnny Briggs, 69, has been with the show for nearly 30 years.
A spokesman for the top soap refused to confirm the new plotline - and whether it meant Briggs would be leaving the Street.
But a source promised the storyline to run this summer will result in some of the soap's most tear-jerking shows as Mike's incurable condition progresses.
TV chiefs are believed to have been in discussion with Alzheimer's support groups in an effort to make the storyline as convincing and sensitive as possible.
And there is a Shakespearean twist to the new story - after scriptwriters realised Mike's demise mirrored that of the bard's tale of tragic King Lear.
Mike finds himself at the centre of family wrangling over control of the Baldwin underwear empire with his sons, ex-partners and nephews.
A soap source said: "Nobody set out to make a copy of Lear. They have not tried to copy Shakespeare.
"It sort of dawned on everybody the story we were telling and it seemed to make sense to take elements of the play and turn it into a modern story."
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Coronation Street's Mike Baldwin is to be struck down by Alzheimer's disease in a dramatic TV storyline.
Millions of Street fans will see the bubbly factory boss in a gradual decline from the devastating condition as his forgetfulness gets worse.
Mike, played by veteran Street star, Johnny Briggs, 69, has been with the show for nearly 30 years.
A spokesman for the top soap refused to confirm the new plotline - and whether it meant Briggs would be leaving the Street.
But a source promised the storyline to run this summer will result in some of the soap's most tear-jerking shows as Mike's incurable condition progresses.
TV chiefs are believed to have been in discussion with Alzheimer's support groups in an effort to make the storyline as convincing and sensitive as possible.
And there is a Shakespearean twist to the new story - after scriptwriters realised Mike's demise mirrored that of the bard's tale of tragic King Lear.
Mike finds himself at the centre of family wrangling over control of the Baldwin underwear empire with his sons, ex-partners and nephews.
A soap source said: "Nobody set out to make a copy of Lear. They have not tried to copy Shakespeare.
"It sort of dawned on everybody the story we were telling and it seemed to make sense to take elements of the play and turn it into a modern story."