Coronation Street briefly recasts Toyah Battersby for special scene

Coronation Street spoilers follow for the latest episode to stream on ITVX and YouTube, but hasn't aired on ITV1 yet.

Coronation Street's latest instalment has seen Toyah Battersby be briefly 'recast' for a special yet upsetting scene as part of Debbie Webster's ongoing dementia storyline.

After leaving the taxi office following a chat with Steve McDonald, Debbie asked a blonde 'stranger' for directions to the Rovers.

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The woman asked if Debbie was okay, which only caused Debbie to get stressed.

"How do you know my name?" Debbie asked, and then told the woman not to touch her when she offered to take her to the pub.

As Debbie walked away and the camera angle changed, we see that the woman was Toyah the entire time.

While a small moment, this brief 'recast' shows us how Debbie's condition is worsening, and even people she knows are starting to appear as strangers to her.

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Emmerdale had tried a similar technique before, casting a different actor as Aaron Dingle for a handful of scenes where his neighbour Ashley Thomas struggled to recognise him due to his dementia.

The woman that Debbie saw in that brief moment was credited only as 'Stranger', and played by actor Anya Williams.

Just this week, Carl actor Jonathan Howard has revealed when Debbie's storyline could potentially come to an end.

"Sue [Devaney] is contracted to August, but already they are ramping up the dementia storyline," he shared. "It’s going to be very sad, so sad, I love Sue so much. I’m so happy she gets to play my mum and I get to play her son."

He added: "Yesterday, I had lunch with her, Michael Le Vell [Kevin Webster] and Sally Carman who plays Abi, it's a nice little family we've created," he continued. "So knowing that at some point, it's still a year down the line, it's going to come to an end, it's so sad."

More information about dementia is available via organisations including the NHS and Dementia UK. Resources for readers in the US are available via the National Institutes of Health.

Coronation Street airs on weeknights at 8.30pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.

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