Coronation Street star Julia Goulding has confirmed that Clayton Hibbs will try to take his own life in an emotional new
storyline.
Julia’s character Shona Platt receives the upsetting news about her jailed son in big scenes next week.
This week’s episodes see Shona’s husband David secretly read emails and letters from the prison regarding Clayton,
who killed his first wife Kylie in 2016.
David chooses to keep Shona in the dark about what’s going on, but secretly goes to see Clayton himself after receiving a visiting order.
After a tense conversation between David and Clayton in the visiting room, news later reaches the Street that Clayton has been admitted to hospital.
Speaking about the new storyline, Julia explained: “The police visit [Shona] at work and tell her he is in hospital. She races home in a blind panic, is upset and apprehensive to even mention Clayton in front of David.
“Also they’ve got lots going on in the family, but seeing Clayton becomes her priority so she races to hospital. She doesn’t think twice about that.
“Clayton doesn’t want to see her and is very angry. Unbeknown to her, she has been contacted by him and the prison, so she is very confused. He screams at her to get out. She can’t understand why and just wants to be with her son.
“At this point, she knows he has tried to take his own life but can’t work out why and why she wasn’t told.”
Julia warned that there could be major repercussions for Shona and David’s marriage if she finds out that he played a role in blocking her access to her son in the lead-up to this incident.
She said: “Jack [P Shepherd, who plays David] and I are very much on our own characters’ sides in this. We’ve had barneys in the green room about who’s right.
“When Shona finds out her husband has been gaslighting her and had a part in Clayton trying to take his own life, I dread to think what she’s going to do. But I don’t think she’ll take it lying down.
“There’s going to be a lot of anger and pain, a possibility they could destroy each other. There’s a lot of change already for David – his mum is leaving, the house might get sold, stress with the stolen money which Shona doesn’t know about yet, it’s like living in a washing machine!
“The sad thing is they’ve been so solid for so long, Shona is David’s final crutch. But he’s destroyed it himself, in my opinion. I really am Team Shona in this!”
Coronation Street airs these scenes on Wednesday, November 13 on ITV1 and ITVX.
