Corrie Robert star after quitting soap – famous family, Amanda Holden feud and Bond link

Coronation Street star Tristan Gemmill was involved in some pretty hard-hitting storylines during his four-year stint in the soap.

Taking over from actor Julian Kay, who played Robert from 1996 until 2003, Tristan made his Corrie debut in 2015 and was soon involved in plenty of tense storylines, including an affair with Carla Connor and a testicular cancer battle.

He was eventually fatally shot by Derek Milligan in an accident at the Rovers, and died on Christmas day 2019 – before meeting his son.

But where is the star now? From feuding with Amanda Holden to his incredible post-Corrie transformation, we take a look into his life after the cobbles.

Incredible transformation and real voice

Coronation Street fans will probably remember Robert first appearing on the street with dark hair, before trading it in for a hunky silver fox style and embracing the grey.

But since quitting the show, Tristan opted to dye his hair dark once more, and debuted the style for an appearance on ITV’s Lorraine in March 2020.

Lorraine couldn’t help commenting: “You’ve gone from being a silver fox back to the dark hair, for a very good reason.”

Tristan explained that he wanted to try out the style to act in Harold Pinter play The Birthday Party, telling the host: “Yes a couple of people have noticed that, I wanted to try something different for the play I wanted to have a particular look. So I’ve opted for this for the play.

“And who knows, if I like it then I might keep it!”

That isn’t the only thing different from his Corrie character, as fans were left shocked by his southern accent – a far cry from Robert’s Mancunian one.

Taking to Twitter during an interview with the star, one fan posted: “Robert off Corrie sounds quite posh!”

“I’m disconcerted by Robert from Corrie’s southern accent!” another tweeted, as someone else wrote: “Ohh Robert off Corrie sounds so different with his real voice!”

Famous family

Tristan isn’t the only famous actor in his family – he’s actually married to fellow TV star Emily Hamilton, who fans will likely recognise from programmes like The Queen, Casualty and The Bill.

She starred as Princess Diana in The Queen, and has also appeared in Midsomer Murders, The Grand and the 2000 adaptation of David Copperfield.

The couple share a son, Wilfred, and two daughters, Mabel and Violet.

And sharing a career has proved fruitful for the pair, as Tristan said Emily understands that he has to do kissing scenes for work.

Speaking on Loose Women, he explained: “In our business you end up doing romantic scenes and kissing scenes and my wife doesn’t care at all because she does it in her line of work as well.

“During the week I come up [to Manchester for filming]. I live down south bar Monday to Friday… My wife is in acting so she understands.”

And speaking of his kids, Tristan insisted he doesn’t want them to follow in his footsteps – in fact, he will “actively discourage” them from doing so.

He continued: “I would be actively discouraging them not to go into acting, I won’t be dangling it in front of them.

“People see that and think, ‘Oh I’d like a bit of that’, but you have to deal with rejection and insecurity. You have to be fairly thick-skinned.”

Amanda Holden feud

Tristan might have friends and family in high places, but he doesn’t put up with so-called “arrogant” celebrities – as he proved when he slammed Amanda Holden for her Eurovision 2021 presenting.

He blasted Amanda on social media in view of his 25,000 followers, writing: “The lowlight of the evening wasn’t the nul points, but Amanda Holden demonstrating perfectly why Europe thinks we’re an arrogant nation with a grossly overrated sense of our own importance, and why no one will ever vote for us.

“What a staggering misread of an audience that was.”

During her presentation of the UK’s allocated points, Amanda told the camera: “Bon Soir. Goedenavond. That is good evening in French and Dutch, although I’ve got absolutely no idea which is which!”

James Bond link

You might not think it, but a job on Corrie wasn’t on the top of Tristan’s acting bucket list – as he initially wanted to play James Bond.

He even auditioned for Casino Royale before Daniel Craig was ultimately handed the part of 007.

Speaking of his experience on Loose Women, Tristan said: “I did audition for it before Daniel Craig, you know when they saw pretty much every actor in England who could walk upright.”

He explained that stacks of audition tapes had piled up on the producer’s desk so high he could “barely see her”, as Hollywood stars like Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor also went for the role.

The star went on: “I have a feeling that ship has sailed.”

Back in 2017, he joked: “If the producers are by any chance watching and rethinking about it… I’m not available because I’m contracted to Corrie, but I could take a week off.”

Rival soap stints

Coronation Street isn’t the only soap Tristan has appeared in. He’s even starred in its BBC rival EastEnders.

The star appeared in three 2005 episodes of the Walford-based soap as both DC Cowen and DC Muller, before going on to appear in BBC medical soap Casualty as series regular Adam Trueman.

He appeared in 169 episodes of Casualty between 2007 and 2011 before winning the regular role of Robert.

Over the years, Tristan has starred in plenty of other well-known shows, including The Bill, Poirot, Call the Midwife and Grantchester.

Tragic loss

Tristan was one of many Coronation Street stars to pay a sweet tribute to Girls Aloud star Sarah Harding after her tragic death earlier this year.

Sarah died after a battle with breast cancer in September 2021.

The songstress has appeared in four episodes of Coronation Street as Robert’s wife, with a typically explosive arrival on the cobbles when her character Joni Preston slapped Tracy Barlow across the face for sleeping with her man.

Tristan, who starred alongside Sarah, tweeted when the news of her death broke: “That is awful news about Sarah Harding.

“I only worked with her for a very short time, but I found her to be a truly lovely human being. Rest In Peace.”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk