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How Corrie nearly killed me

Susannah Wright
22/ 5/2008

AN AVID Corrie fan says he has not been able to watch his favourite soap for ten years after he broke his neck during a commercial break.

Richard Collier was rushing upstairs to the loo so that he would not miss a minute of the show when he slipped and suffered a near fatal fall.

He was left paralysed for six months after landing awkwardly and snapping his neck in three places.

Instead of missing a few minutes, he instead ended up missing around 2,000 shows as he says he could not bear to tune in because the theme music brings back the full horror of his accident.

This week, Richard, 53, finally plucked up the courage to watch The Street again for the first time since the accident.

He said: "It was awful when I fell, so painful, but the worst bit was in the months afterwards.

"All I could do was move my right arm and for six months I was in a wheelchair and had to have people do everything - even having someone take me to the toilet.

"Then one day, I just woke up and thought ‘I’ve got to do this for myself or I’m going to die’. So I sort of willed myself into getting better. It wasn’t easy, but after several hours of physio every day and the great help of the staff at Withington Hospital - as well as friends and family - I gradually got back on my feet."

Richard, of Nicolas Road in Chorlton, said he found it difficult sitting through an episode of the show even though so much time had passed since his accident.

But he was also shocked by how much had changed since his last episode. When Richard suffered his accident in April 1998, he was engrossed in the storyline of the death Gary and Judy Mallet’s adopted baby to meningitis.

Since then a number of the shows main stars have left, including Curly Watts, Mike Baldwin and Vera Duckworth.

He added: "It used to be my favourite soap. I had a few pangs of panic when the music came on. It was a bit strange though because I didn’t recognise most of the people on there - Vera’s gone, Curly’s gone - I didn’t really know what was going on."

Richard, who is known to pals as Bone and is often told he bears a resemblance to Robert De Nero, is a regular at the Horse and Jockey pub on Chorlton Green.

After the accident he went back to live with his mum, Rose, 81, on Nicolas Road, because he couldn’t manage on his own.

And he hasn’t been able to go back to his job as a chef because he still has blackouts and dizzy spells.

He also can’t move his left arm very well and is unable to stay on his feet for too long.

But despite the pain and hardships Richard has suffered, he has retained a sense of positivity and humour.

He recently agreed to have his head shaved to raise money for two autistic children at an event in Chorlton.

He said: "You have to just get on with things and refuse to be beaten. I have good friends around me and I like to have a laugh. You can’t live in the past, you just have to look to the future. Every day I wake up with a smile and every day is a bonus."