Brain injury battles:

Shona’s amnesia on Coro is taking its toll.

Coronation Street’s Shona (above right) is still suffering from amnesia after being shot in the head at Christmas and her relationship with husband David Platt (left) is being placed under increasing strain. James Rampton reports.

On Coronation Street, it never rains but it pours. That is particularly true for David Platt’s wife Shona.

The character, played by Julia Goulding, who survived a near-death experience after being accidentally shot in the head over Christmas, has returned to the Street suffering from severe amnesia.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, in her newly vulnerable state, she is being manipulated by her evil son, Clayton (Callum Harrison), who is in jail for murder. He also kidnapped her.

Worse still, Shona can no longer recognise her husband David (Jack P Shepherd).

All Shona’s family and friends are battling to come to terms with this new reality. They are suddenly dealing with an entirely different personality – and it’s extremely tough for all concerned.

Goulding, who has played the character since 2016, says she did a lot of research into Shona’s new circumstance.

“We have excellent writers and there has been lots of research put into Shona’s brain injury,” Goulding says.

“I had a meeting with Dr Julianne Kinch, consultant neuropsychologist, and Dr Nicola Wheeler, clinical psychologist, from Christchurch Group (which specialises in neurological rehabilitation), and they were incredibly helpful with the way Shona will behave and react to people.”

Goulding, 35, says that, “It’s challenging because I want to get it right. I really hope I have done it justice because people are going through this situation in real life.”

The amnesia storyline was written into Coro after Goulding needed to go on maternity leave.

She has since given birth to a boy (Franklin Wolf Silver), her first child with husband Ben. Goulding loves being a mum and says of her son, “He’s changed our lives for the better in every way”.

Goulding reflects on the challenge of playing a woman whose nature has been so dramatically altered.

“The difficulty is that the character is so different. So to approach it in that sense is really odd because she is completely unrecognisable. When working with my colleagues like Tina O’Brien (Sarah), Jack P Shepherd (David), Helen Worth (Gail) and David Neilson (Roy), it’s hard to not go back to the natural rhythm that we had with each other.”

She continues that, “We have a rapport that we have built up, the way we work together, as characters but also as friends. So it’s hard not to sink back into that familiarity from before. For example, if Shona and David have a cheeky exchange, now we have to be quite cold and to look at it with new eyes.”

She says Shona recalls nothing about the Street.

“She has no recollection of living on Coronation Street. She still thinks she lives on The Dog and Gun estate.

“I’ve been on Corrie three and a half years now and all that is gone from her memory. Gail, Roy ... she can’t remember a thing.”

Nor can Shona recall being David’s wife.

“It’s difficult because he is a stranger telling her he is her husband and she is very wary of that.

“She knows that she is married to him, but she doesn’t have any emotional connection towards him. For example, everything that they have been through has gone from her memory. She is quite cold towards him,” says Goulding.

“I don’t think she dislikes him; I don’t think she likes him. She is just quite indifferent.”

The actress believes that this may be the biggest test yet of Shona and David’s relationship.

“Absolutely. At least before, they were on a similar page, but now they are strangers to each other.

“From David’s point of view, he is looking at his wife physically, but he is not looking at who she is and she is not looking back with the same eyes, the same face. This is probably their toughest challenge.”

Goulding considers whether she prefers playing the scenes where Shona and David are happy or the sequences in which their marriage is in dire straits. “I love both,” she says. “I adore their relationship when they are at their best, when they are joking and laughing and having fun, because it’s adding all those layers on – that lovely colour to a real-life relationship – which is what Coronation Street aims for.”

However, she adds, “It would be boring if it was always the same. So I also love it when

they argue.”

“It’s difficult because he is a stranger telling her he is her husband and she is very wary of that.”

– Julia Goulding