‘Coronation Street’ scribe Jonathan Harvey has scooped a Writers’ Guild Award for penning Aidan Connor’s suicide reaction episode.
The 50-year-old writer took home the Best Long Running TV Series accolade for writing last year’s ‘Corrie’ ep in which it was discovered Aidan – who was played by Shayne Ward – had tragically taken his own life, and David Platt (Jack P. Shepherd) opened up about being raped by evil Josh Tucker (Ryan Clayton).
Reacting to his triumph, Jonathan wrote on Twitter: "Chuffed to bits. Hoorah. I take this one for the team… (sic)"
Shayne tweeted: "Huge congratulations"
His former ‘Corrie’ co-star Georgia Taylor – who plays Toyah Battersby – was quick to congratulate the former ‘Gimme Gimme Gimme’ writer on his gong.
She tweeted: "Aw brilliant news! Congratulations (sic)"
Author Marian Keyes wrote: "CONGRATULATIONS Jojo!!! SO well deserved! Xxxx (sic)"
Other winners at the event, which was held at the Royal College of Physicians in London, included former ‘The Office’ star Mackenzie Crook, who was awarded the Best TV Sitcom prize for his comedy ‘Detectorists’.
‘Call the Midwife’ scribe Heidi Thomas won the Outstanding Contribution to Writing gong, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge took home the prize for Best Long Form TV Drama for Killing Eve’s fifth episode.
Jonathan’s accolade comes after Shayne previously admitted he was "completely heartbroken" and "instantly scared" when ‘Coronation Street’ bosses told him his character would take his own life.
He said: "It’s really tough to watch. I was just full of all different emotions. I was instantly scared, I was nervous, and completely heartbroken, because I knew this was more than just a storyline.
"I knew the impact it’s going to have on the public when it airs. It’s amazing ‘Coronation Street’ is covering this.
"I’m still full of all emotions."
Despite admitting it was hard to watch his "very distressing" final scenes, Shayne praised the "clever" way Jonathan put the storyline together to tie in with David speaking out about being raped by Josh.
He added: "It was a very tough watch. My scenes are very distressing.
"Not everyone is going to have the same opinion on it. It’s not in your face. It’s very cleverly done.
"We’re trying to get it out there without saying, ‘You should talk.’
"We’ve done it in a very clever way with Jack and his storyline because he then realises, ‘I don’t want to die.’ It’s such an important message. It’s cleverly done by ‘Corrie’.
"Jack seems to be the one someone is expecting something to happen to. Jack is playing it incredibly, so everyone is quite worried he may head towards that, so we’ll see what happens."
Coronation Street scribe scoops Writers Guild Award for Aidan episode
