CONTROVERSY ON THE COBBLES
AIDAN Connor’s death is not the first time suicide has featured on the cobbles.
In fact, the first storyline featuring an attempted suicide led to scenes being axed before screening.
In 1963 factory worker Sheila Birtles downed a bottle of pills after her lover dumped her.
But when news of the storyline leaked out viewers complained and worried bosses hastily cut the scenes before they were screened.
The nation was shocked when Ken Barlow’s second wife Janet took her own life in 1977.
Having parted from Ken she began a relationship with Vince Denton but when that failed she turned up on Ken’s doorstep.
But after he refused a reconciliation, Janet took an overdose of sleeping pills.
Katy Harris was wracked with remorse after killing her father Tommy with a wrench because he wrecked her relationship with Martin Platt in 2005.
Unable to live with her feelings she wrote a suicide note admitting her guilt, before drinking water mixed with sugar – a deadly solution because of her diabetes.
The Street’s grim serial killer plot featured Richard Hillman who, after his reign of terror, drove his car into the canal.
The show won praise for its controversial right-to-die storyline in 2014 when Hayley Cropper decided to end her own life after unsuccessfully battling pancreatic cancer.
Her husband Roy, who disapproved of her decision, was nevertheless at her side as she passed away after drinking a cocktail of drugs.