CORRIE fans were left in tears when little Sam Blakeman discovered that his mum Natasha had bled to death on the operating table after being shot in a case of mistaken identity by bad-boy drug dealer Harvey Gaskell.
In heartbreaking scenes devoted mum Natasha, played by Rachel Leskovac, told the youngster how proud she was of him and that she would always be with him, no matter where they were, before she tragically died.
Talented ten-year-old actor Jude Riordan broke the nation with his portrayal of a grief-stricken school boy but it’s a storyline we’ve seen on the famous cobbles many times over the years.
Corrie has a long history of dramatising the death of a parent which often puts some of its bigger stars at the centre of the hit ITV soap.
Way back in 1971 twins Susan and Peter Barlow were just five-years-old when their mother Valerie died from an electric shock after using a dodgy hairdryer.
And although husband Ken, Weatherfield stalwart William Roache, was devastated, it left the writers free to explore other female love interests for the character.
As well as a number of gritty storylines for the motherless twins. Son Peter, who has been played by Chris Gascoyne since 2000, has spent his adult life battling alcoholism while daughter Susan tragically died in a car crash in 2001.
Susan’s death left her own son Adam motherless and sparked a custody battle between dad Mike Baldwin and the Barlow family.
So where are the kids now?
Adam Barlow was just 12-years-old when his mum Susan was killed in a car crash fleeing ex-husband Mike.
He was played by Scottish actor Iain De Caestecker from 2001-2003 before the character was re-cast with Sam Robertson taking over the role in 2004.
Iain has gone on to star in films such as Shell, In Fear, Not Another Happy Ending, Lost River and Overlord.
His recent TV work includes BBC four-part mini-series Us, where he starred as a young Douglas Petersen and political drama Roadkill alongside Hugh Laurie. He is currently filming another drama for BBC One, The Control Room.
In 1989 Nick and Sarah Tilsey were left traumatised following the brutal murder of their father Brian.
Little Sarah was just two years old and big brother Nick was eight when Brian was stabbed to death in an alleyway.
The siblings are still in the soap with actress Tina O’Brien taking over the character in 1999 to play 13-year-old Sarah’s teenage pregnancy storyline. Sarah gave birth to daughter Bethany the following year.
Sarah was born on-screen in February 1987 and was played twin baby girls Leah and Lynsay King.
Tragically Leah died at six months, a victim of cot death, and Lynsay took over the role until 1999 when quit the soap to concentrate on her education after years of school bullying because of her screen role.
In 2004, she revealed she’d quit a drama course and was working behind the counter at Greggs in Manchester suburb Droylsden.
Nick was played by Warren Jackson from birth until 1996 when hunk Adam Rickett took over the role in 1997. He stayed on the cobbles until 2004 with the character being re-cast in 2009 when Ben Price took over.
Warren, who was axed by Corrie bosses aged 16, later admitted that his life had spiralled out of control following his departure from the soap and that he’d turned to drink, drugs and self-harm to cope.
In 1991 there was further heartache when Alec Gilroy’s granddaughter Vicky Arden was orphaned after her parents Tim and Sandra were killed in a car crash.
Vicky, played by actress Chloe Newsome, was just 14 years old at the time of her parents death and was placed in the care of Alec and wife Bet.
During her time on the cobbles Vicky became the first wife of Steve McDonald. She left in 1998 with actress Chloe continuing her career in theatre and TV.
In 1993 little Tommy Duckworth was left without his mum Lisa after she was knocked down by a car.
Tommy, whose dad Terry was locked up at the time of the accident, was initially cared for by grandparents Jack and Vera.
But when son Terry was released from prison he did a deal with Lisa’s parents to hand over his son.
The character was made a full-time regular in 2011 when Chris Fountain was cast in the role. But two years later the actor was sacked when bosses discovered he’d appeared in a number of videos online rapping about rape.
Work dried up for the actor but he returned to ITV in 2017 after being cast in Kay Mellor’s Girlfriends.
In 2005 Craig Harris, played by Richard Fleeshman, was left without his dad Tommy after big sister Katy killed him in a moment of rage.
Craig was just 15-years-old wen his dad was murdered. Further turmoil followed for the youngster when mum Angela took the blame for the killing, and unable to live with what she’d done Katy took her own life.
Actor and musician Richard has had a successful theatre career since leaving the soap in 2006.
Twisted builder Charlie Stubbs may well have got what he deserved at the hands of girlfriend Tracy Barlow but his three children were all left without a dad.
Tracy famously killed the abusive love rat in 2007 by hitting him over the head with a statue.
Charlie was estranged from his children from his first marriage.
But little Chloe, whose mum Emma was played by Hollyoaks actress Stephanie Waring, never got to meet her biological dad before he was murdered.
Having lost his own mother at a young age, history repeated itself for Peter Barlow’s son Simon in 2008 when his mum Lucy died from ovarian cancer.
And like his dad before him, he was just five-years-old when he lost his mum.
Peter was given full custody of little Simon, played by Alex Bain, but his battle with the booze and his many relationship dramas has caused the lad many problems over the years.
Following the break-down of Peter’s marriage to wife Leanne, the pair entered into a bitter custody battle over the youngster.
He was also at the centre of a physical abuse storyline when he started lashing out at mum Leanne and more recently was involved in the soap’s hard-hitting county lines drug dealing plot.
In 2017 little Joseph Brown returned to the street to live with dad Chesney following the death of his mother Katy, played by Georgia May Foote.
Katy died off-screen in a car accident in Portugal. Joseph is still living on the cobbles with dad Ches, his partner Gemma and their toddler quads.
Twins Aadi and Asha Alahan were left without their mum Sunita after she died from the injuries she sustained in the Rovers Return fire in 2013.
Aged eight at the time of their mother’s death, dad Dev has been raising them as a single dad with the help of Mary Taylor.
The pair, now aged 16, were involved in Corrie’s super soap week when their car exploded and Dev had to chose between saving son Aadi, played by Adam Hussain, and daughter Asha, actress Tanisha Gorey.
He chose to save Asha, and the storyline is set to have repercussions for the family for years to come.
Max Turner arrived on the famous cobbles with mum Kylie in 2011 but just five years later he was left orphaned.
Dad Callum Logan was accidentally killed mum Kylie in 2015 as she desperately tried to stop him violently attacking Sarah Platt.
The following year Kylie was stabbed by Clayton Hibbs and died in husband David Platt’s arms.
Max is still living with David and is now played by Paddy Bever who took over the role from Harry McDermott earlier this year.
In one of soap’s most heartbreaking ever deaths, young mum Sinead Osbourne, played by Katie McGlynn, tragically died from cervical cancer in 2019.
Sinead was pregnant with son Bertie when she was diagnosed with cancer but chose to go ahead with her pregnancy.
Little Bertie was just ten months old when he lost his mum. He is being brought up by dad Daniel who is still struggling to come to terms with losing his beloved wife.
