Shayne Ward reveals the positive impact Aidan's powerful Coronation Street storyline has had

Amazing!

Published 10th May 2018

Coronation Street viewers were left in floods of tears earlier this week when popular character Aidan Connor's final scenes aired on the soap. Aidan, who is played by actor Shayne Ward, broke down and prepared to take his own life in heartbreaking scenes.

Despite the hard-hitting storyline, Corrie bosses wanted to help tackle the issue of male suicide as it was recently announced that 84 men a week take their own lives in the UK alone.

All this week on Coronation Street, the episodes have focused on how Aidan was feeling so distanced from the world and how nobody saw his suicide coming. As the news made its way around the residents of Weatherfield in last night's episode, actor Shayne Ward has opened up about portraying the harrowing scenes.

Aidan's story has been written to tie in with ITV's Project 84 campaign, which started with statues of 84 men placed around the top of the ITV studios to help raise awareness for male suicide, which is the biggest killer of men in the UK under the age of 45.

And 33-year-old Shayne, who himself lost a relative to suicide, has revealed that even in the last couple of days since the episodes were aired, he has received messages from people who were planning to take their own lives.

Aidan's suicide wasn't shown on-screen

Shayne revealed to a publication that many people who were considering suicide have now called the appropriate charities to get help.

Shayne, who found fame when he won The X Factor, earlier revealed that Corrie crew members had been left in tears after being reminded of their beloved colleague Mike Curtis, who took his own life in 2015 at the age of 32.

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Shayne Ward reveals the positive impact Aidan's powerful Coronation Street storyline has had
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After Shayne's heartbreaking scenes aired on Monday night's episode, his fiancée and former Hollyoaks actress Sophie Austin took to social media to praise him.

Taking to Instagram to post a picture of Shayne on the Coronation Street cobbles with their daughter, Sophie wrote, 'So here we are at the end of this long journey , one that I'm so so proud of you for taking . At first it was such a hard decision and road to face knowing how important this story was for us as a family and for so many others. You were scared as you wanted to do it justice ! Well you did my darling , you listened to stories/ experiences , learnt , revisited your own memories and tragic loss and worked hard to make this story the truest it could be and to hopefully help others and get people taking . I will forever be in awe of you and your amazing talent as an actor .Thankyou my love xx @shaynetward @samaritanscharity @calmzone.' sic

Ahead of last night's episode, Shayne then took to his own Twittter page to write, 'Tonight’s @itvcorrie Episode is Powerful and full of raw emotion. Some Incredible performances from all The cast.! Keep Talking Everybody. I’m so proud of all your bravery in doing so. TALK-YOUR VOICE WILL BE HEARD. @theCALMzone @samaritan

If you've been affected by Aidan's story, contact The Samaritans who are available 24/7 by calling 020 7734 2800.

Coronation Street continues on ITV.

This article originally appeared on Closer Online.