Coronation Street star Jane Danson has clashed with her former on-screen stepmum Vicky Entwistle after she criticised the quality of the soap’s script.
In emotional scenes on the street this week, Leanne Battersby, played by Jane, and Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) said goodbye to their son Oliver, who had been battling mitochondrial disease.
Following the heartbreaking scenes, Jane’s castmates and fans praised her for her emotional performance in the tough storyline, with Georgia Taylor, who plays Leanne’s sister Toyah, tweeting: ‘My beautiful, brilliant friend @RealJaneDanson You blow me away #corrie.’
However, Vicky – who played Janice Battersby on Corrie from 1997 until 2011 – seemed unimpressed by the writing.
The 52-year-old replied to Georgia: ‘But imagine if she had better writers behind her!!! That really would have been something!!!’
Jane, 42, hit out at Vicky, tweeting: ‘Thats so disrespectful. They were some of the best scripts i have ever had. Shame on you for writing that! Very disappointed how mean that comment was!’
Vicky did not respond to Jane’s post, but continued to slate the Coronation Street scripts in reply to other fans.
After one soap lover tweeted that Vicky and Bruce Jones, who played Les, should return to the show, the actress tweeted: ‘Those days are over! All the good writers left!!’
Undeterred, Jane thanked the script writers Ellen Taylor and Joe Turner for their work on the devastating storyline.
She tweeted: ‘Overwhelmed once again. im honoured to have been given this story to tell @itvcorrie along side our wonderful cast and directors @brett_fallis Abe Dukes and our writers Ellen Taylor and Joe Turner thank you so much x.’
Leanne had been fighting the decision to have Oliver’s life support withdrawn, but dropped the appeal after realising that her son was suffering by being kept alive.
As she struggled to say her final farewell, Leanne made multiple trips back to the flat to pick up her little boy’s favourite things.
After breaking down, Nick Tilsley (Ben Price) told her that it was time to say goodbye, and she and Steve serenaded Oliver with his favourite song, You Are My Sunshine, in the hospital room before he died.
Upon returning to the cobbles, Leanne lay on Oliver’s bed where she broke down in tears.
What is mitochondrial disease?
Mitochondrial diseases result from failures of the mitochondria, specialized compartments present in every cell of the body (except red blood cells).
Mitochondria are responsible for creating more than 90% of the energy needed by the body to sustain life and support organ function. When they fail, less and less energy is generated within the cell. Cell injury and even cell death follow. If this process is repeated throughout the body, whole organ systems begin to fail.
The parts of the body, such as the heart, brain, muscles and lungs, requiring the greatest amounts of energy are the most affected.
Symptoms vary depending on the organ(s) affected but may include seizures, atypical cerebral palsy, autistic features, developmental problems, fainting and temperature instability.
According to The Lily Foundation, the prognosis depends upon the severity of the disease and other criteria. As more research funds are raised to find more effective treatments and ultimately a cure, some of the affected children and adults are living fairly normal lives with mitochondrial disease.
In other cases, children may not be able to see, hear, talk or walk. Affected children may not survive beyond their teenage years. Adult onset can result in drastic changes from an active lifestyle to a debilitating ilness is a short amount of time.
Treatment plans vary from patient to patient but involve therapies, diet changes and other means to try and slow the progress of the disease.
You can find out more information from the NHS here.
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