Coronation Street paid a moving tribute to the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing ahead of the fifth anniversary of the horrific incident on Friday.
Friday evening’s episode saw Gail Platt (Helen Worth) and Eileen Grimshaw (Sue Cleaver) lay flowers a memorial bench in Weatherfield.
Walking into a peaceful garden, Gail stood at the colourful mosaic bench and turned to Eileen to say: ‘It’s a lovely bench, isn’t it?’
Heartfelt: Coronation Street paid a moving tribute to the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing ahead of the fifth anniversary of the horrific incident on Friday
Eileen said: ‘It is. It’s just a crying shame it even has to be here,’ to which Gail replied: ‘Five years on Sunday.’
‘Could have been any one of us, couldn’t it,’ said Gail. ‘Any one of us from this street.’
Eileen added: ‘Our kids. Our grandkids.’
Tribute: Friday evening’s episode saw Gail Platt (Helen Worth) and Eileen Grimshaw (Sue Cleaver) lay flowers a memorial bench in Weatherfield
‘They went out for a concert and they never came back,’ said Gail. ‘Our Lily loves Ariana Grande.’
Eileen replied: ‘Oh, don’t Gail.It doesn’t bear thinking about.’
Referring to their troubled relationship, Eileen said: ‘Look at us two being civil to each other,’ to which Gail said: ‘Yeah, well, some things are bigger than you and me Eileen.’
Emotional: Walking into a peaceful garden, Gail (pictured) stood at the colourful mosaic bench and turned to Eileen to say: ‘It’s a lovely bench, isn’t it?’
Sad: ‘They went out for a concert and they never came back,’ said Gail. ‘Our Lily loves Ariana Grande.’
On set: The specially commissioned bench was installed on the ITV soap set after the bombing in memory of the 22 victims
Remembered: A plaque on the bench read: ‘For Martyn and all those who lost their lives on the 22nd of May 2017. We stand together’
A plaque on the bench read: ‘For Martyn and all those who lost their lives on the 22nd of May 2017. We stand together.’
The words are in memory of bomb victim Martyn Hett was one of 22 people killed at the Ariana Grande concert.
He was later buried in a Coronation Street-themed coffin and he was named on the specially commissioned bench which was dedicated to him and the other victims.
Fan: The words are in memory of bomb victim Martyn Hett was one of 22 people killed at the Ariana Grande concert
Inking: Martyn, who had a huge social media following, was known for his love of the soap and had a Deirde Barlow tattoo on his leg
Martyn, who had a huge social media following, was known for his love of the soap and had a Deirde Barlow tattoo on his leg, which was featured on E4 show Tattoo Fixers.
Twenty-two people were killed and over a 100 injured when a bomb went off in the foyer of the Manchester Arena on 22 May 2017.
Suicide bomber Salman Abedi detonated his home-made device at 10.31pm as 14,000 people streamed out at the end of an Ariana Grande concert.
Horrific: Suicide bomber Salman Abedi detonated his home-made device at 10.31pm as 14,000 people streamed out at the end of an Ariana Grande concert
Officers from British Transport Police were on scene one minute later and declared a major incident by 10.39pm.
However, a report found that a mix-up between police and the fire and rescue service meant the valuable assistance of fire crews was delayed by two hours and six minutes after the bombing.
Two weeks after the attack, Ariana Grande organised a One Love Manchester benefit concert to support the victims of the bombing.
Strong: Following the attack Ariana Grande paused her tour but returned to the city just two weeks later to headline the One Love gig in June (pictured at the benefit concert event)
Sea of flowers: A vigil at St Ann’s Square in Manchester one week after 22 people were killed by a suicide bomber at the Arena
Bomber Salman Abedi, 22, was the subject of persistent reports, intelligence and information received by police and MI5 between at least December 2013 and the time of the bombing.
He was known by the security services to be an ISIS supporter long before the bombing, and he was known to have travelled to Libya twice and for significant periods in the year before the incident.
Following the attack Ariana paused her tour but returned to the city just two weeks later to headline the One Love gig in June 2017.
She made the brave decision to return for the benefit concert, which raised more than £17million, and saw the audience that attended her last show in attendance.
The concert saw several stars take to the stage at the Old Trafford cricket ground, including Coldplay, Katy Perry, Liam Gallagher, Justin Bieber and Robbie Williams.
Always remembered: Ariana shared a touching image of a heart filled with bees as well as a list of the 22 people who lost their lives in the blast as a tribute last year
