just as it looks as if they are off into the wide blue yonder the devastating news hits Alma." In the scripts, Alma was faced with a choice, leave Weatherfield, or remain and die with her friends. The source added, "Alma is wrestling with her innermost thoughts about what to do for the best. She is agonising about starting a new life away from Weatherfield with Frank and his children Joe and Danny. But it is Audrey who tells her that she should stay amongst her friends who will be able to nurse her when the time comes. After a lot of hard thinking Alma realises that she will be better off staying with the people who have known and loved her. So she makes the emotional decision to remain with her friends until she dies. We have had some tear-jerking episodes in the past, and Alma's farewell will have to rank as one of the most sorrowful in Corrie's history." An estimated 15 million viewers tuned in to see Alma's death on-screen. It was reported that a power surge occurred at the episode's climax as there was a 1000 megawatt demand on the National Grid as more than 400,000 kettles were switched on by viewers after the episode. A National Grid spokesman said "Soaps normally average between 400 and 600 megawatts, so it was a considerable increase." Cancer Research UK was critical of the cervical cancer storyline. They suggested that the writers tried to write the disease around the plot rather than the other way around, leading to unrealistic depiction of cancer. A spokesman for Coronation Street responded in defence of the storyline, saying that Alma's cancer progressed so quickly as she had missed a smear test, and the storyline did have a positive impact on female viewers, resulting in a significant increase in smear testing in the UK. However, a British Medical Journal paper in 2003 warned that the storyline could have unduly worried audiences and placed a burden on the National Health Service (NHS). References Coronation Street characters Television characters introduced in 1981 Fictional shopkeepers Fictional waiting staff Fictional characters with cancer Female characters in television