Corrie's Mike to suffer from Alzheimer's

Coronation Street's Mike Baldwin will be struck down by Alzheimer's disease in a new storyline, according to The Mirror today.

Mike will begin to show signs of forgetfulness in the summer, which gradually get worse.

The soap's scriptwriters have been consulting Shakespeare's King Lear, and hope that the storyline will mirror the classic play. Lear is forced to divide his kingdom between his three daughters when he suffers from madness, while Mike's sons, ex-partners and nephews will battle to take over Underworld.

An insider told the newspaper, "It will be some of the greatest television Coronation Street has ever produced, I can promise you that. An awful lot of work is going into these scripts.

"Alzheimer's affects a lot of people, but equally it affects their families very hard. It is very distressing for everyone involved and we had to think about that when we were first formulating the idea."

The source added, "Nobody set out to make a copy of Lear, or thinking they would rewrite the great Bard. It sort of dawned on everybody the story we were telling and it seemed to make sense to take elements of the play and turn it into a modern story."

Johnny Briggs, who plays Baldwin, has been with the soap for nearly 30 years.