Daniel Brocklebank has spoken out about his brutal Coronation Street axing and revealed what he told producer Kate Brooks when she suddenly revealed he was about to be killed off
Daniel Brocklebank had starred as vicar Billy Mayhew on Coronation Street before for 11 years before he was killed off (Image: )
Daniel Brocklebank has admitted he “doesn’t even miss” his job on Coronation Street – just after his character was brutally axed. The actor, 46, starred as kindly vicar Billy Mayhew for over a decade on the world’s longest-running TV soap but was killed off in the programme’s crossover with Emmerdale earlier this month.
In the special episode, Billy had been driving the minibus back from Debbie Webster’s wedding when they were involved in a pileup on a dark country road and, instead of rescuing him, evil Theo Silverton, plugged his seatbelt back in and left him to die in the explosion.
Just weeks after the dramatic scenes aired, Daniel has admitted that he “doesn’t necessarily miss” the job, but still feels incredibly “lucky” to have been part of it in the first place and misses working with everyone on set instead.
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He said: “I don’t know how many characters have been in that show in the 65 years it’s been running. Hundreds, possibly thousands, you know. So, Billy is one of possibly thousands of characters that have graced those beautiful cobbles, and I was lucky enough to spend 11 years there, which is lot more than some characters are there for.
“I loved every minute of it. I will never have anything but love in my heart for anyone that has worked on that show in front or behind camera. It was joyful to skip into that place every day. It’s the people you miss. I don’t necessarily miss the work.
Shortly after filming his final scenes as Billy, Daniel went on to star in Young Frankenstein at the Liverpool Playhouse over the ferive period, and relished in the chance to only have to learn one script, as opposed to having pages and pages of different scenes come in on a weekly basis.
Speaking on the Conversation Street podcast, he added: “I mean, what was lovely about doing theatre straight afterwards was once I’d learned the script, I didn’t have any more lines to learn. Whereas obviously, Corrie, it’s constant. Once we’d done the rehearsals [for Young Frankenstein] and opened the show, all I had to do was turn up to the theatre. No more lines, not 30 bloody scenes a week coming in every week!
“You’ve been in each other’s lives for, in my case, 11 years. That’s births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and everything else in between. And you support each other through all of those things. So, when you’re no longer there, that’s what you miss. Not the job necessarily because you go on and you do your next job. “
“The first conversation I had with Kate Brooks when she told me that I was that Billy would be leaving in the crossover episode. I think one of my first questions was when are we shooting that? So when will I be finished? Because you know my agent needs to start planning for what’s after this. She said she wasn’t quite sure and I told her ‘Well, I need to know!’ I had to to start planning for what’s next.
“As it turned out, I started rehearsals for Young Frankenstein on the 17th of November. I didn’t finish filming with Corrie until lunchtime on the 18th and literally walked out of the studios at quarter to 1, rehearsal room by half one and the next job just started.
“So I timed it well. But as a self-employed person, you need to know what what’s next because I’ve still got bills to pay and food to put on the table and a mortgage so you’ve got to constantly plan!”
Coronation Street airs Monday – Friday at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITV X. Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .