Coronation Street star Sue Devaney has explained the decision she made regarding Debbie Webster’s dementia storyline.

Debbie has started to show signs of the memory loss disease, with the story set to culminate in her exit, despite fan outcry.

In order to more accurately portray real life, and to make things more exciting for her as an actor, Devaney has asked soap bosses not to let her known plot details in advance.

“I have decided that I don’t want to know what is coming up for Debbie,” she said. “I want to wait for the scripts because in real life you don’t know what is coming. I think it’s more interesting to play it like that.”

She also explained what research she did for the storyline, stating that: “I’ve spoken to my friend who works with dementia patients. She’s got a clinic where she sees patients with early onset dementia so I speak to her a lot.

“We have been working with Dementia UK, when we had our initial meeting they told me a lot about the tests you have to do and how you are diagnosed with it and where you go from there.”

The actor added that Debbie feels incredibly scared when the specialist refers her to the memory clinic, after initially thinking she was just going through the menopause.

“It makes her think it’s something more serious,” she said. “Menopause is a scary time for any woman, with hormones all over the place and doing bizarre things. It changes your brain.

“I spoke to a support worker from Dementia UK, and she said many women think it’s just menopause and don’t get tested, even though the symptoms can be similar, like brain fog, but on a much bigger scale with dementia.”

According to a press release, this storyline will unfold “over the coming months and years”, so Debbie may not be going anywhere anytime soon.