Corrie’s Kym Marsh is praised for heartbreaking scenes as Michelle meets Leanne’s baby

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by Emma Dodds |
Published on

Give that lady a BAFTA

Coronation Street viewers have watched Michelle Connor's life over the past few months turn from happily expecting a baby with her husband to devastatingly suffering a late miscarriage.

Kym Marsh, who plays Michelle in the soap, has been continually and rightly praised for her portrayal of the tragedy - particularly as her fictional life actually mirrored her own real-life heartbreak, losing her own baby in a late miscarriage in 2009.

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Kym and co-star Simon Gregson have been praised for their portrayal (Credit: ITV Pictures) ©ITV

The actress has selflessly relived old upsetting memories of her own miscarriage for the storyline in order to raise awareness of the fact that babies born before 24 weeks don't receive a birth certificate.

It definitely did the job, because it encouraged a woman who had also been through the terrible loss to start a petition for birth certificates to be issued for babies born sleeping at 20 weeks.

READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE - Kym Marsh opens up about filming stillbirth storyline on NTA red carpet

Coronation Street Michelle Connor Steve McDonald
The devastating scenes have been tough to watch (Credit: ITV Pictures) ©ITV

As has her co-star Simon Gregson, who plays her on-screen husband Steve MacDonald - he revealed as the scenes aired that he too had been through the awful trauma with his wife, as she suffered multiple miscarriages.

But the storyline has been made ever so slightly more complicated by the fact that at the same time that Michelle became pregnant, her husband had a one night stand with her best friend, Leanne, resulting in a - you guessed it - pregnancy.

READ MORE: Kym Marsh opens up about devastating stillbirth storyline and losing her own child

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Michelle went to visit Leanne in last night's emotional episode (Credit: ITV Pictures) ©ITV Pictures

Leanne gave birth to Steve's baby earlier this week whilst stuck in a lift, and last night's tear-jerking episode saw Michelle meet Leanne's and - unknown to her - Steve's baby for the first time.

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Michelle's moment with the baby alone was particularly heart-wrenching (Credit: ITV) ©ITV

There was a particular gutting moment when Michelle had a moment alone with the baby, and said to him: "You have no idea how special you are. Your mummy waited such a long time for you. And now you're here, she loves you all the more. All good things in life come if you're patient. When the time's right. Never give up on your dreams kid."

It's just too much. :(

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The guilt was clear to see on Leanne's face (Credit: ITV) ©ITV

READ MORE: Kym Marsh and Simon Gregson's real life partners join them for emotional baby burial scenes

Kym took to Twitter after the scenes to thank fans for their support, writing: "Thank you so much for all your kind tweets. Your support means the world to us all. Sending love to all who have been there themselves x"

Her co-star Jane Danson, who plays Leanne Battersby, also wrote an emotional post: "Thanks once again for ur support. Tbh its been an emotional story for all involved. Love and thoughts to anyone whose heart is hurting xx"

Fans in their droves praised the actresses for their scenes, with many saying they were in tears.

But one eagle-eyed fan spotted a potential development in the storyline, writing: "Watched #coronationstreet for 4 minutes and already figured out Michelle is gonna nab that baby before long."

Could @IcedWeen be right? Is there a baby-snatching storyline to follow?

Did you watch the episode? Were you affected by it? Let us know over on Facebook and Twitter.

Read more like this:

Kym Marsh's daughter praises brave Coronation Street star after miscarriage scenes aired

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