Coronation Street aired a special tribute to former soap director Kay Patrick at the end of tonight’s first episode (Tuesday, June 30).
Tonight’s episode was centred around Megan Walsh’s trial, with scenes seeing Will Driscoll take a huge U-turn while taking to the stand.
At the end of the first episode in tonight’s two part instalment, a tribute to the soap’s director Kay Patrick then popped up on the screen as the credits started to roll.
Coronation Street pays tribute to late director Kay Patrick
Coronation Street was on for an hour tonight, split over two half hour episodes. This was due to the recent football scheduling chaos on ITV causing major disruption to the usual soap routine.
The first episode aired at 8.15pm-8.45pm, followed by another episode straight after that ran until 9.15pm. The first episode saw Megan Walsh’s mum rock up on the cobbles.
While Megan’s mum Janine soon worked out that Megan had groomed Will, she then confronted Will herself ahead of the trial. She tried to get him to retract his statement, suggesting that Megan ‘loved him in her own warped way’ and had suffered a ‘lapse of judgement’ that she didn’t deserve to go to prison for.
Well, it seemed that Megan and her mum’s plan worked, as by the end of the evening, Will had spoken out in court and had lied to the jury that he’d ‘made the whole thing up.’
Just as the credits were about to roll at the end of the first episode, a tribute appeared on screen in memory of Kay Patrick 1941-2026. A photo of Kay smiling outside also accompanied the message.
Kay was a director on the ITV soap for more than 20 years, recently having passed away. She started working on Coronation Street in 1994 and stayed on the soap for 21 years.
Throughout her impressive career, the directed shows such as Crossroads, Holby City and Brookside. She also produced episodes of Emmerdale.
Coronation Street star Lisa George leads online tributes to Kay Patrick
Reacting to the sad passing of Kay Patrick, former Coronation Street and Beth Tinker actress Lisa George took to social media to write a tribute of her own to her late colleague.
She wrote: “Awwww I loved Kay – worked with her quite a bit and just felt so safe in her hands. I thought she was amazing xxx.”
Another friend of the director’s shared: “So saddened to hear about Kay’s passing. It was an honour to know her. Such a kind, lovely lady and a cat lover to boot! Kay was so loved and respected by all who worked on Coronation Street. Rest in peace, Kay.”
A third person also added: “I’m so sorry to hear about Kay. It was a pleasure to know her. Xx.”
