Coronation Street stars are banned from going on holiday if they are involved in a major storyline.
Former storyliner Martin Sterling has revealed that the stars get their trip requests turned down if the writers have plans for them to be part of a big plot, and no one gets special treatment.
Sterling – who worked on the ITV soap for 17 years before leaving this year – said: “The thing that happens that people perhaps don’t realise is you also have cast holidays, ‘Can suchabody have this week’s holiday?’
“And you have to say, ‘No, they’re in a big story.’
“‘Am I really saying no to one of the biggest names on television, telling them that they can’t have a holiday?
(Image: ITV)
“Of course the cast are entitled to holidays like everyone else and they don’t know if they’re going to be in a big story because they don’t know what’s coming up, I think they do understand,” he continued.
“So we say to them ‘You can’t take certain weeks cause you’re gonna be really busy’, they do understand.”
And Martin definitely has a soft spot for the older generation of Corrie stalwarts – admitting he enjoys finding ways to link them into various storylines.
“Your older characters, your Audreys, your Ritas, your Kens, your Norrises, your Emilys were always my favourites if I’m absolutely honest.
“So it became a little bit of an in-joke – me saying is there any room for a bit of Rita in this!” he joked.
During his time on Corrie, Sterling’s favourite storyline was serial killer Pat Phelan’s reign of terror in Weatherfield.
(Image: ITV)
However, he thinks that villains like Pat and Richard Hillman are too unrealistic, and instead believes baddies like domestic abuser Geoff Metcalfe resonate more with the viewers.
He told the Conversation Street podcast: “Some of the villains like Pat Phelan, like Richard Hillman, they’re just slightly above reality.
“Richard Hillman pulling on the gloves was just a hoot but there was something about Geoff which actually is very real and the fact is that is happening to women in real life.”
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He was quizzed by podcast host Michael about his favourite moments as a storyliner, including his highlight of the live tram crash episode back in 2010.
“In terms of emotional stories, for me it was Hayley’s death, but the two standouts in my career were the tram crash and Hayley’s death.
“That was just an incredible story to work on, and you just knew what those actors were going to bring to it.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
