A Medway stillbirth charity has praised the Coronation Street storyline which has seen character Michelle Connor lose her baby at 23 weeks.

Viewers have watched harrowing scenes as Michelle and husband Steve say goodbye to baby Ruairi after she went into early labour and her son did not survive.

The storyline is even more poignant because actress Kym Marsh, who plays Michelle, lost her son Archie when he was born at 21 weeks in 2009. Kym said she felt the storyline was a good way to honour her late son while also helping to raising awareness.

Last night (Wednesday) viewers watched more heartbreaking scenes as Michelle and Steve attended a funeral for Ruairi.

David Ward, who founded stillbirth charity Abigail’s Footsteps with wife Jo following the loss of their own daughter at 41 weeks, has praised the actress for taking on the plot.

He said: “I applaud Kym and her courage. To play that scene must have been so difficult and to have done it so well – I’m full of admiration for her.

“Yet again more awareness is being raised and more people will talk about the subject. That’s what we need to encourage people to do. More people need to talk about stillbirth and neonatal death.

“Many people feel shamed and believe they are to blame, which of course they are not. Many years after the death of a baby, mums and dads may still be suffering because they haven’t been able to talk about it.”

The storyline tackles many of the issues David and Jo faced when Abigail died, such as being able to hear newborns crying, which led them to set up Abigail’s Footsteps to campaign for better care.

In one scene, husband Steve asks a doctor: “How can you keep my wife in there listening to newborn babies crying? It’s cruel.”

The Wards, of Priestfields, Rochester, helped design a soundproof bereavement room at Medway Maritime, where mothers give birth when it is known a baby has died.

Last year Abigail’s Footsteps opened a new bereavement suite, Abigail’s Place. It is away from the maternity suite so it gives parents somewhere they can say goodbye.

The charity want to see the suite replicated across the UK.

One of the scenes in Coronation Street saw Michelle’s angry reaction when she was told her son would not be given a birth certificate because he was born before 24 weeks gestation.

The actress is now calling for a change in the law, as she experienced the same when her son Archie died. She said it felt like he had been “wiped out of history”.

She told The Sun: “The fact I didn’t get a birth certificate for Archie means that when I’m gone there’s no record of him.

“We hope this story will open up the debate. It would be great if it led to a change in the law.”

Mr Ward said: “It is a very tricky issue. We were able to register Abigail’s birth and death at the same time because she was stillborn at 41 weeks.

“From our point of view every child should be recognised.

“Some hospitals, including Medway, give handwritten birth certificates so although they are not official it is still a way to acknowledge the baby and something parents can keep.”