Let her eat cake ... but shit on it first !!

"What's up with her now?" you're probably wondering. "Surely she must be delighted with the latest news that will ultimately see Billy free of Paul Foreman.

Well no, not really to be honest. I'm at a stage with this at the moment where it feels like someone's handed me a delicious chocolate cake and then taken a huge runny shit on the top of it and I've got to eat through the shit first to get to any of the chocolate. And then when I finally get to the chocolate, I'm fairly sure it won't even be chocolate, it'll just be more shit. 💩

No I don't like Billy being in a relationship with Paul, I've made that very clear many (give it a rest Den) many times, but does this mean I want Paul killed off in this really sad , way just to free Billy from this miss matched coupling, of course not.

I just don't want them together, end it now, preferably go back in time and stop them from ever getting together in the first place. Just don't give us months of Billy sobbing and pacing the striped carpet of his flat. I've already seen headlines that say this will be a "tragic love story" and I agree on one part, their relationship is definitely tragic! 😭

This storyline feels so massively out of left field. Interviews have told us that it came as a surprise to those involved, so I could never revel or delight at someone leaving a job they love just so I get what I want, a Paul free Billy .

I absolutely do wish Peter Ash all the very best with this storyline (and his future afterwards) and I'm glad to see how positively the MND community have reacted to Corrie deciding to tell this story.

But I just wish, as a person watching and discussing a purely fictional show with fictional characters, that we hadn't decided Billy needed to be back in a relationship with Paul for this story to be told. I didn't need for Paul to leave the show for Billy to be free of him, I just need the show to remove Billy from Paul's life and keep it that way.

How right was I when I said that the show would only be putting Billy back with Paul because it would aid a Paul related storyline!

I didn't want them back together and now I want nothing more than for Billy and Paul to end and never speak to each other ever again, but not like this.

Billy is now back in Paul's life till the end of this, isn't he? And not only is Billy now back in a relationship with a man who he would struggle to be friends with let alone be a partner of, there's now zero chance of the show breaking these two up knowing what's around the corner for Paul.

I say they would struggle to be friends because outside of them talking about sex or Paul's life, what else do they talk about? Every scene is either about where Paul's been or who he's on the phone to, what shifts does he have today, how's his job hunting, and would he be interested in some sex?

And this really is the root of my dislike of Paul , it's not so much him but how much involvement he's had with Billy since joining the show, how much these two don't work and how Paul's presence in Billy's life spoils my enjoyment of a character I do like. Their relationship from the outset has established Billy as some controlling parental type figure. He is often so very differently written when he's in scenes with Paul than without, because ultimately it's how Paul reacts or is feeling that matters to the story.

Paul as a character can never catch a break , he's been hit with one miserable storyline after another miserable storyline , and then when he gets home to his partner Billy is often used as another reason for him to be miserable, speaking to Paul with condescension and accusations.

It's how so many of their interactions go , ending in Paul storming out, or getting upset and Billy being the bad guy. It seems Billy has to look like a twat, a villain, just to make Paul come across even more of a victim. Why is that the dynamic of their relationship?

It upsets me as a Billy fan because I see the outpouring of dislike for Billy in these scenes and when I myself am frustrated by his part in it, I can't defend it. But this really isn't the basis of Billys character, get him away from Paul and stop using him as a tool to make Paul look more vulnerable.

The last four years of Billy's life has been like watching the film ground hog day, mainly interacting with Todd , Paul and Summer with hardly any interaction with the other characters on the street. He's spent the last two years having to be there to help Summer go through some stuff, after already having helped Paul go through some stuff in 2019 and now he's back to helping Paul go through something really awful again in 2023.

In fact since they recently got back together, I'm sure Billy has only had two scenes that haven't been with Paul. And they were the only two scenes he's had where he wasn't stuck in his flat.

Update: In the most recent Friday episode, Billy actually had scenes outside the flat, we saw him in the cafe , pub and Bistro Kitchen (?) but only because that's where Paul was. Billy needed to be in those locations for Paul. The bistro kitchen ffs !! 😩

He's an Archdeacon, on a street where there's murder, drugs and abuse aplenty. People should be lapping up the free advice Billy would so willingly give if he was only allowed to have scenes with other characters. If only we were allowed to see him in church.

The absolute madness of it all is that he only got back with Paul on the basis that he wasn't the one who shoved Mike. That was Billy's entire criteria for a man. He must not be the man who shoved Mike. He kept saying out loud for the camera to hear "I could never be with the man who shoved Mike" . Mike being the man who kidnapped Summer and was going to buy summers baby off her. He deserved so much more than a shove Billy for crying out loud.

But then when it turned out Paul was indeed the one who shoved Mike. Billy didn't recoil in horror "you shoved Mike??? I could never be with a man who shoved Mike" ... no, instead he started a relationship with him. After spending an entire week telling everyone the reason he didn't want Todd anymore was because he shoved Mike.

What in the actual fresh hell is going on.

My god I want Billy and Paul to end but when it's a relationship that should have never been in the first place, why end it like this?

Will they decide that this is the perfect time for the show to have their first m/m wedding. We can't let this happen. We can't have corrie's first m/m wedding be between Paul and Billy. Billy feeling that he owes it to Paul before the inevitable end comes to fruition. Billy cannot become Billy Foreman. I can't bear it.

Billy conveniently forgetting that he was absolutely delighted at the idea of marrying Todd not so long back .

Why couldn't Billy have had an active roll in this storyline but from the periphery. As a friend or preferably as a Vicar, helping a parishioner of his parish deal with a terminal illness, much like he did with Sinead ❤️ . This is how it should have been approached from the outset. Billy could still live his life , Billy could have his own storylines but also be involved with Paul's in his vicary capacity.

There's no doubt in my mind that both Daniel Brocklebank (Mr. B ) and Peter Ash will pour their absolute heart and soul into this story.

I did suspect, actually, before it was officially announced, that this might be the route they took Paul down, when he first started having problems with his hand. I knew about Mr. B's very close connection with the MNDA charity and his personal connection to this illness , so this did cross my mind. The interviews which mention Mr. B's knees going weak when he heard about this storyline really make me feel for him and the memories that Billy's role in this storyline will awaken.

Honestly though I dismissed the idea of Paul having this type of storyline pretty quickly as I did not feel in my gut that the show would be closing the chapter on him this soon.

I just felt like this would be the year for Billy, the year where he would get his own story. Friends. Have connections outside of Paul, Summer, Todd. Remind the viewers of what Billy is actually about, why he became a vicar, the caring nature that makes up so much of his DNA.

He now seems to walk around with blinkers on, oblivious to any of the problems so many of his parishioners are facing on the daily. Carla could be laying in the middle of the road and he would just walk straight past her to get to the bistro kitchen for his scene with Paul. Where they would have the same conversation they have every scene, " how's your day been Paul and would you like sex later?"

So I'm just very disappointed that not only is that not happening , but Billy has now been woven so very deeply back into Paul's life again that it will be impossible for him to break free from it, he's now there till the end.

Both characters benefit from not being together romantically, and it's my passion for Billy and my wanting of the show to do what's best for *his* character that I bang on so much about these two parting ways. But I do also believe them parting is best for Paul's character too.

I'm sure there'll be some very emotional, very well acted scenes coming not just for Paul but between Paul and Billy in the months to come. But like I tried to get at in my 💩 cake analogy at the beginning, we could still have emotional scenes between them without needing for Billy and Paul to be a couple.

If Paul parts this show still partnered to Billy, it then leaves the show open to months/years of Billy mourning the loss of a man he has no real meaningful connection to.

I can't have the show make out that these two are soulmates and I can't shake the thought of Billy sobbing at Paul's bedside (much like Daniel did for Sinead) and him mumbling through his tears "he shoved Mike , I thought I couldn't be with the man who shoved Mike, but I was wrong. It's the man who shoved Mike that I need in my life and now he's gone"

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