Coronation Street fans were shocked by an unexpected death earlier this week when sinister Noah (Richard Winsor) suffered a heart attack.

Noah had been tormenting Theo Silverton (James Cartwright) for months because of his sexuality, after subjecting him to conversion therapy as a teenager.

To make matters worse, he wormed his way into Theo’s children’s lives by dating Danielle Silverton (Natalie Anderson), Theo’s ex-wife, and even took son Miles out to preach homophobic rhetoric.

He succeeded in winding Todd Grimshaw (Gareth Pierce) up in court and getting him thrown out, though his outburst had little effect on the case as a whole, with Theo ultimately winning shared custody.

Dissatisfied, Noah headed to the Bistro to disrupt Theo and Todd’s celebration lunch with threats that Danielle would appeal the court’s decision, and Todd’s outburst would go against them.

However, Theo refused to rise to Noah’s threats, and sent him on his way.

The next interruption came in the form of a distraught Danielle, who informed Theo and Todd that Noah was dead.

This news, of course, came as a shock, and Danielle explained that she had found him on the floor at home, with paramedics confirming that he had had a heart attack.

With his death so sudden and off-screen, you’d be forgiven for questioning whether Noah is really dead at all, or if this is just a cruel trick to mess with Theo.

However, it would appear that Noah really is gone, as actor Richard Winsor has taken to Instagram to say his goodbyes to the cobbles.

‘Bye bye Noah, you creepy f*****!!’ He wrote, alongside a carousel of pictures.

‘Was an absolute pleasure being on the cobbles and working with Gareth Pierce, Daniel Brocklebank, James Cartwright and the entire Coronation Street team!’

Fans were full of praise for Richard’s stint on the cobbles, with one commenting: ‘You smashed it rich wish you’d been on our screens longer you played Noah so well can’t wait to see what’s next for you.’

‘Will miss Noah you played him brilliantly,’ another said, while a third added: ‘Too little time there and we will miss you a lot.’

Though his stint on the cobbles was a short one, Richard’s ghastly character certainly made an impact.

He was introduced as a face from Theo’s past, before his role in Theo’s conversion therapy was revealed.

Billy Mayhew (Daniel Brocklebank) was horrified to find that Noah was still preaching his homophobic opinions and conducting conversion therapy.

When he and Todd confronted Noah, things got out of hand.

Noah found himself targeted by Gary Windass (Mikey North) and Maria Connor (Samia Longchambon), who were keen to defend Theo and other members of the LGBTQ+ community, though their vandalism of the community centre only served to further fuel Noah’s hatred.

Later that week, Theo found himself arrested after Noah was attacked, though he maintained his innocence in the situation.

In recent scenes, Theo was embroiled in a vicious custody battle, and Noah did everything he could to make the proceedings as difficult as possible.