It was the storyline that never saw the light of day in the wake of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

But three years after ditching a plot about a toddler being abducted from their bed, Coronation Street have decided to go ahead with another missing child storyline.

And although a Corrie spokeswoman said it will be an 'entirely different' plot to the one that got dropped a few years back, bosses are still bracing themselves for a backlash from viewers.

New storyline: Peter Barlow, played by Chris Gascoyne, and on-screen son Simon, played by Alex Bain, who goes missing while on a trip to Blackpool

The new story will revolve around six-year-old Simon Barlow, played by Alex Bain, who goes missing while on holiday in Blackpool with his maternal grandparents George and Eve Wilson.

Although no details about the scenes have been officially revealed, a source said a frantic search for Simon ensues when he disappears after they all go for a stroll along the promenade one evening.

But a spokeswoman for Coronation Street insisted that this was different from the storyline that had been planned three years ago.

Safe and sound: Claire Peacock (Julie Haworth) clutches son Freddie, who was to be at the centre of an abduction storyline three years ago. It was scrapped after Madeleine McCann's disappearance

Missing: The search continues for Madeleine who disappeared from a holiday villa in Portugal in 2007

She said: 'We were going to have a storyline involving Freddie Peacock, who was to be abducted while he was asleep in his bed.

'But after Madeleine disappeared so soon after filming the scenes, we realised there were too many similarities and parallels between the plotline and her disappearance, so we decided not to run with it.'

The scenes from the episodes showed Freddie's mother Claire, played by Julie Haworth, at press conferences clutching his teddy. Later she handed out photos of the missing child to other Street residents.

Producers made the decision to scrap the storyline after photos of Madeleine's mother at a press conference holding her daughter's favourite cuddly toy were released.

The spokeswoman added: 'The storyline with Simon Barlow is entirely different but I cannot give you any details at this stage as we don't want to ruin it for our viewers.'

But a source close to the soap claimed in the Mirror that bosses are concerned they will receive complaints from viewers when they air the storyline involving Simon - because there are similarities to Maddy's disappearance.

The three-year-old girl has not been seen since she vanished from her bed in the family's holiday villa in the Portuguese resort of Praia de Luz in 2007.

Simon vanishes while in Blackpool but after a thorough police search of the town fails to find him, father Peter prints off hundreds of flyers with his son's photo on to distribute around - just like Kate and Gerry McCann did.

This is not the first dramatic storyline that actor Alex Bain has been involved in since he joined the soap as Simon in October 2008.

Last March, viewers watched as Simon was taken to hospital suffering smoke inhalation after Peter set fire to their flat after getting drunk and falling asleep with a lit cigarette in his hand.