Cobbles and coffins - killing off kids in soap

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog August 2015, reposted to this blog with permission.)

There have been some good comments left on my speculatory blog post about Max being hit by Nick's car in Coronation Street.  Will Max live or die?  My guess is he'll live because Coronation Street wouldn't kill off two kids in one year, would it?

Mind you, we don't know for sure if Hope will live or die. All we know is that Fiz and Tyrone will have a very sad Christmas. Therefore, losing any children on Coronation Street in the future is a matter of pure speculation. But it has prompted us to think about whether Corrie would, could or should kill off little Max.

Corrie's past record suggests that Max won't be killed off because they haven't killed off any children in the past on screen before, as far as we know. Corrie has had baby deaths from still-births, premature births and disease, but never a grown child being killed off.

It's brought a lump to my throat writing this blog post. It's possibly one of the saddest blog posts I've ever written... here's a look back at some of the sad stories when children of the cobbles have passed away. 

After David and Irma Barlow emigrated to Australia in 1969, David was killed in a car crash there in 1970. David and Irma's 18 month son, Darren also died in the crash.  We never saw Darren on screen in Corrie as he was born in Australia.

In 1992 Liz McDonald lost her premature baby Katherine (Katie) soon after she was born on 1 January. The scene is on YouTube here. I remember this storyline vividly and with great sadness. Liz's grand-daughter Amy Barlow has Katherine as her middle name in honour of Liz's baby.

In 1998 Zoe Tattersall lost her daughter Shannon to meningitis.  The grief of her baby's death unhinged Zoe and she kidnapped Fiona Middleton's baby, Morgan. Morgan's dad was Alan McKenna.

In 2000, Jake Webster was born but died from the disease Strep B.  His parents were Kevin and Alison Webster.  This is the storyline which Corrie recently forgot.

In 2004 baby Billy Platt, the prematurely born son of Sarah and Todd Grimshaw passed away.

In 2008 Maria Connor gave birth to a still-born baby son. The baby's dad was Liam Connor and they named their baby Paul.

It remains to be seen if little Hope Stape will survive neuroblastoma, a rare cancer.

And will Max dodge his uncle Nick's car? 
We found out in Canada last night.



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