Toxic air will trigger a potentially deadly asthma attack for Coronation Street schoolboy Liam Connor, and highlight a real-life danger.
The 12-year-old, played by Charlie Wrenshall, collapses while playing football and is rushed to hospital.
There, terrified mum Maria Windass is told he has the life-threatening respiratory condition, with Weatherfield’s polluted air the likely cause.
Hairdresser Maria, played by Samia Longchambon, vows to cut the number of cars on the cobbles, even smashing up the Underworld van with a crowbar.
Mum-of-two Samia, 39, said: “Liam has had a chesty cough, he’s playing football on the street then suddenly he collapses struggling to breathe.
“He’s taken to hospital and it turns out he’s had an asthma attack.
“The ambulance can’t get down the street because of all the cars, which makes it even scarier. At the hospital the doctor says his asthma could have been caused by pollution and Maria just sees red.
“She’s fuming and it becomes her mission to get rid of the vehicles causing the heavy pollution on the street.”
The scenes, which air on ITV next week, will shine a light on Britain’s killer air crisis.
It comes after the death of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, who was in hospital 27 times in three years, before a fatal asthma attack when she was nine in 2013.
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AFP via Getty Images)
An inquest recorded Londoner Ella’s cause of death as air pollution – a first in the UK – with the coroner’s report in April urging PM Boris Johnson to set stricter legal limits on emissions.
John Whiston, head of ITV in the North and MD continuing drama, said: “Clean air is an issue that affects us all wherever we live but particularly a small, urban street like Coronation Street.
“So it felt right to look at the issue. Hopefully, as well as being an issue that provides drama, it also throws a light on what we can all be doing to clean up the air we breathe.”
There is an asthma attack every 10 seconds in the UK and toxic air is linked to as many as 36,000 early deaths a year.
The charity Asthma UK worked with Corrie’s writers, directors and actors to ensure that the scenes were accurate.
Chief executive Sarah Woolnough said: “We are delighted that Coronation Street has chosen to shine the spotlight on this issue.”
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Originally from https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/coronation-street-plot-highlights-risk-24765281