Corrie Richard Hillman star Brian Capron now from teased return to 'abuse' from fans

Brian Capron has often been declared as the most hated soap villain of all time for his portrayal of serial killer Richard Hillman in Coronation Street.

The award-winning actor played the role from 2001 to 2003 and is known for attempting to take the lives of the entire Platt family.

During his evil reign of terror, the infamous serial slaughters his wife Patricia Hillman and Maxine Peacock before confessing his crimes to Gail and trying to drive the family into the canal, but he was the only one who met his watery end.

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Playing such an iconic role has led to some ups and downs for the star, having landed some great TV roles since.

But playing such an evil role also had its downsides in the form of public abuse and even the torment of his own son in school.

Let’s find out what the star has been up to since his infamous role…

Soap Return

Coronation Street’s most infamous villain returned to the scene of his crimes to scare Halloween visitors on the soap’s official tour back in 2019.

Actor Brian returned to the soap’s old set at Granada Studios with leather gloves and crowbar in hand to bring Richard back from beyond the grave – ensuring it was quite the fright night for visitors to the Horrornation Street tour.

Brian happily posed up a storm on the cobbles with delighted fans. He revealed to the Daily Star at the event that although he still gets hounded in the street, it’s still nice to be recognised.

“’It’s wonderful to still get recognised after all these years.

“I was at an airport in Majorca and this guy just walks past and says ‘murderer’ under his breath.

“There will be others who will shout across the street or those who are genuinely taken aback when they realise it’s the Street’s serial killer Richard Hillman on their train or in the same restaurant as them. It always makes me laugh.”

As an actor who in his own words was a “well-known unknown” for 30 years before catapulting to nationwide fame in the soap, Brian described his Corrie stint as a “fantastic experience”.

He went on to say that he’s had a “wonderful career” since waving goodbye to the Street, and has been involved in some “lovely projects” since his fame was boosted.

Abuse by Fans

He famously struck fear among viewers 15 years ago with his portrayal and villain Richard Hillman and 71-year-old Brian has revealed that he has still not entered the world of social media for fear of being targeted by haters.

Brian revealed that he still gets a lot of abuse for his turn in the ITV soap and this has meant that he has never opened a Twitter or Facebook account.

On TV show V Graham Norton, he said he was once punched in the face by an angry viewer.

“I was surrounded by security people going through the shopping mall when the woman broke through and punched me on the nose.”

He described the incident as “quite a shock” and said he had quickly got out of her way.

“I went to another bit of the mall and the amazing thing was, she did it again,” he laughed.

Speaking to the Daily Star, Brian said that with the spotlight on celebrity social media accounts, he would “worry about how you appear all the time,” and would find it very difficult with, “everybody criticising you.”

“I don’t do anything. I don’t do Twitter and I don’t do Facebook. This started after I did a certain psychopathic character in a certain soap. You get a lot of abuse.

“So I thought, ‘I’m not even going to go there – I don’t want to see any trolls.’ I didn’t want to see anybody saying how awful I was. So I stayed off it altogether,” he said. The abuse he received even led to his son being bullied at school.

It became so bad the actor had to take his youngest child out of school.

Speaking about the traumatic time, Brian added “My little boy was bullied at school and we had to move him from his state school to a private school.

“They used to call him Louis Hillman and say, ‘your dad is a murderer’.

“No matter how many times I went into school and tried to be Mr Normal Dad, nothing changed.”

Smashed BAFTA

Brian’s portrayal of the iconic soap villain earned him a spot in TV history with the storyline bagging a whopping 14 television awards and making history as the first soap storyline to win a BAFTA.

But his success appeared to caused trouble in his marriage to wife Jacqueline Bucknell who got so fed up with the star’s inflated ego that she smashed his coveted award in fury.

Since he left the role back in 2003, the actor confessed that fame soon went to his head which caused tension in his marriage.

He told the Daily Star: “they gave me a special one which I’ve got at home, but I had a row with my wife over it because she thought I had gotten too big headed so she threw it in the garden, so it’s a bent BAFTA now.

“Funny things happen to you when you get a little bit famous, you get a little bit full of yourself but hopefully I’ve lost that now.”

But the award has paved the way for a very successful career for Brian, who thanks ITV for helping him live his dream as an actor.

He said: “I did 200 episodes in just less than two years and it was very, very pressured but very exciting because we had a fabulous writer at the time and we took my storyline right up there.

“And I’m still acting because of it, I’m still in the business because of that role, so it was a lovely time and it was the first time that a [soap] storyline won a BAFTA so I’m very proud of that.”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk