natural and straight with Gail – and it
came across that I genuinely loved her
and her family which of course eventually
led to a great platform for me to go off to
the other side as it were.
Being a psycho was terrific - I mean if
you’re in Coronation Street in Manchester
it’s like being in royalty up there - it’s like
being a Manchester United footballer
but without the money - it was such an
experience. Suddenly you are in a world
of parties, shows and awards. The award
side of it is rubbish and you know it is but
it’s all such fun. It’s so lovely and I felt so
privileged but on the other hand I knew
that I never wanted to be in it any longer
than two years. You don’t have any
power as an actor and I never wanted
to move up there. It was fantastic just to
be there just for the two years and finish
because there is something deadening
about knowing what you’re doing all the
time, as an actor you thrive on insecurity
funnily enough.
As soon as you know what you’re
doing you have a little deadness inside
of you. Now some people can cope
with that but I notice that most people
in the soaps, I mean it’s hard to keep
your head on to stay normal, become
obsessed about how much money
you’re earning and what your storyline is
and I love the fact that I’m free and I can
do whatever I like.
Do you think certain Corrie actors
have become institutionalised?
Well they would say Helen Worth, who
plays Gail, is institutionalised and if you’ve
been in it that long and its part of your life
that’s why they don’t ever sack anybody
because they’ve given their lives to it and
it takes a special kind of dedication to do
it I suppose. Half of them know that they
wouldn’t survive outside. The trouble is in
the profession when work is very hard to
come by if you suddenly know you’ve got
that amount of security at work then it is
easy to stay.
Everyone wants to stay in it of course. I
was slightly different because I’d been
in the business for 30 odd years and it
mattered getting the job but it didn’t mean
I wanted to be in it forever because I had
always been I think some actors get in
and they just want to stay in - also you
get used to the lifestyle and what goes
with it. On the other hand your whole life
is about whether you’ve got a storyline or
not and it’s very depressing if you don’t
have a storyline so a lot of people go off
the rails particularly the younger people.
The going is hard - and they don’t really
get any help. I feel sorry for them because
suddenly they’re 28 and it could have
been sex drugs rock and roll they’ve all
got their flats they’ve got this they’ve got
4x4s and they don’t really fully understand
what being in this profession is like.
I found it hard enough to cope with the
publicity and everything that goes with
that and I am mature. I’ve been in it for
years but it came as a shock to me how
you cope and try and live a private life.
I nearly had to move from here - I had
people knocking on the door climbing in
the garden, reporters all around in bushes
every time I went out.
I couldn’t go anywhere and I got so
paranoid. Funnily enough I’ll tell you what
sums it up, when I did Strictly Comes
Dancing, Karen said to me ‘you’ve got
a stoop do you know that, you’ve got to
stand up straight’ and that was because
I couldn’t walk down a street, I would
never look at anybody because I didn’t
want to make eye contact. Certainly for
the last few months of that programme
and probably a year or two afterwards
I became absolutely paranoid because
even something as mundane as being
in a shop would end up with 15 people
looking at you and then people outside
the shop would be looking at you or
you’re on a train and someone spots you
and suddenly people are just standing
next to you looking at you and you can’t
move.
Now I have a lot more sympathy
for people who are soap actors, the
experience made me understand a lot
more because the investigation into
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