Scenes ahead in Coronation Street reveal the worries Ronnie (Vinta Morgan) has with the impact of Debbie’s dementia on their sex life. While Ronnie shares his worries with Ed will he come clean to Debbie?
Later scenes, (23 October), show how it isn’t just Ronnie struggling. Denise, a bride-to-be, tells Ryan she doesn’t want Debbie anywhere near her wedding day as she’s a liability. Meanwhile Paula (played by the ever brilliant Kellie Hollis) confronts and threatens Debbie. As Ryan shows Denise around, they come across Debbie and Paula arguing. Denise demands her deposit back and storms out.
When Denise’s fiance, Stan, arrives, Debbie explains that he’s missed her and offers him a glass of wine. Debbie tells him about how her husband doesn’t fancy her anymore. When Ronnie enters and finds Debbie flirting with Stan, how will he react?
Vinta shared his thoughts on the situation: ‘Now that his head has been opened to the understanding of what dementia is and some of the characteristics of it, he’s hyper-aware about stuff. The things he’s really aware of during the week you’re talking about are the idea of consent, things being consensual, and the idea of her memory displacement, especially with long-term memory versus short-term memory. She could be in a situation that seems normal, then suddenly she says something or relates to something in a way that’s different to what the situation is.’
‘For instance, to give you an example: there could be a situation where they’re getting intimate, so to speak, and then she happens to call him a different name or think he’s a different person, and then finds out it’s not that person.’
‘Ronnie’s just very scared. He seeks and is definitely passionately involved in that, because, that’s what their relationship is built on, an enormous passion for each other. But he never wants to put her in any position where she may be taken advantage of, and he doesn’t want to feel that way. The last thing he wants is her suddenly freaking out because she thinks he’s someone else.’
Looking further ahead, Vinta teased Christmas as well as ‘really dark stuff’
‘Christmas has got some beautiful scenes! What the audience can get more of is that there’s going to be some downs, but there’s going to be some ups.’
‘There are going to be some moments where the audience will go, “Oh, if they could just be trapped in that moment!” We’ll let them stay in that moment for a bit, and then he’s going to go on a roller-coaster ride where we’re going to go down into the depths of some really dark stuff. Which is still going to have some light and love in it, of course, that’s the whole thing that makes it excruciating.’
But it’s really going to go into the realms of what the reality is like, really. We’re not going to sugarcoat it; we’re going to show it for what it is. Hopefully, it will develop conversations and help raise awareness.
Photos credit @ ITV/Corrie/Danielle Baguley
Catch up on ITVX, and for classic visits to Corrie, these episodes air weekdays on ITV3 as well as on YouTube. Corrie airs at 8.30pm on ITV1