Soap operas

In 2013, Coronation Street aired a dramatic episode which saw some of the residents take part in a Full Monty-style striptease and now one former star has revealed the lengths some actors went to on set

One former Coronation Street actor has recalled the great lengths his co-stars went to to appear in a set of scenes inspired by The Full Monty.

In 2013, the world’s longest-running TV soap aired a dramatic episode which saw the famed Rovers Return Inn go up in flames, but, as it was all going on, some of the Weatherfield lads, including Jason Grimshaw (Ryan Thomas) and Karl Munro (John Michie), had been approached to do a striptease as a fundraiser nearby at Nick’s Bistro.

Now, Tony Hirst, who played fireman Paul Kershaw, has recalled that some of his co-stars “stopped drinking water” and hit the gym in a bid to look as in shape as possible.

“I remember doing a Full Monty style scene on Coronation Street where we had to be naked,” he began.

“Some of the younger lads purposefully didn’t drink water for two days beforehand so they wouldn’t be bloated, and others were in the gym, trying to look as buff as possible,” he told The Sun.

Just before the striptease reached its finale, Norris Cole burst in to tell everyone that the pub was on fire.

At the time, the Rovers Return was owned by Stella Price, who was played by EastEnders star Michelle Collins, and Karl was her former partner whom she had thrown out after discovering he had had an affair with Sunita Alahan (Shoba Gulati). She then struck up a relationship with Jason, and tried to frame him by setting the pub ablaze in an attempt to win Stella back.

The blaze resulted in the deaths of Sunita as well as Paul’s colleague Toni Griffiths, and Karl was later sentenced to 25 years in prison for his crimes.

Meanwhile, actor Tony Hirst was first introduced to Coronation Street during the soap’s 50th anniversary in December 2010 and was on the scene when an an explosion destroyed the viaduct and caused a tram to come crashing down onto the backstreet.

Almost a year later, he returned to help Eileen Grimshaw (Sue Cleaver) when she got her head stuck in some railings at Underworld factory and quickly became a love interest for him.

It soon transpired that he was actually married to a woman named Lesley (Judy Holt), but she had Alzheimer’s and despite Eileen’s best efforts to look after her, she electrocuted herself when she put a toaster under a running tap.

Following Lesley’s death, Paul and Eileen continued their relationship for more than a year but they called it quits in August 2013 and he departed Weatherfield for good.

Prior to his stint on Coronation Street, Tony played Mike Barnes on Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks. Over the course of his career, he has appeared in Casualty, Holby City and Brassic.

Last year, he played the recurring role of Jerry in Riot Women and also narrates a host of programmes such as How It’s Made and Benefits Street. The soap star recently confirmed that he is now filming new episodes of mystery crime drama Patience for Channel 4.

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Jane Hazlegrove, who is best known for playing Bernie Winter on Coronation Street, has launched a rant at a fellow actor and her co-stars have all clamoured to know who she was talking about

Jane Hazlegrove has issued a warning to fellow TV stars about their behaviour on set. The actress, 58, who currently plays Bernie Winter on ITV soap Coronation Street and previously starred as Kathleen ‘Dixie’ Dixon on Casualty, took to Instagram over the weekend to make a statement about professionalism within the industry.

She shared an image of a quote which read: “Booking the role isn’t the end of the interview. How you behave after you’re hired matters too.”

In the caption of her post: “This post makes total sense! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? As my Dad used to say, you are only as good as your last performance! Be nice! And if you can’t be nice… step away… cos people see!”

The actress, who joined the soap in the role of Bernie in 2019 but also appeared in the mid-1980s Sue Clayton and was involved in a storyline with Jack and Vera Duckworth, was inundated with comments from co-stars.

Jack P Shepherd, who plays David Platt in the soap and has appeared on the show since 2000, said: “This isn’t me is it?”

Sally Carman, who plays Abi Webster, quickly joined in as she replied with a string of laughing emojis, but Jane said: “Soz pal you don’t win this one!!! No it’s bloody not!!!” Sue Devaney, who plays Debbie Webster on Coronation Street, left a string of heart emojis.

Loose Women star Sunetra Sarker, who appeared alongside Jane on Casualty when she played Dr Hannah, said: “Never a truer word said ma’am.”

Emmerdale legend Lisa Riley, who first appeared as Mandy Dingle more than 30 years ago and went on to appear in Waterloo Road and compete on Strictly Come Dancing before making a comeback in 2019, left a string of clapping hands emojis in the comments section of the post. Michelle Hardwick, who plays Vanessa Woodfield on Emmerdale, said: “Oh I LOVE this”

But Jane, who has also appeared in other programmes like Heartbeat, Silent Witness and Holby City over the years, quickly pinned a comment to the top of her Instagram post, so she could clear up any confusion.

She said: “Just for clarification this post is NOT about anyone I am currently working with at Coronation Street. It’s a gentle reminder to be kind and professional at all times!”

When Bernie arrived on Coronation Street, she was introduced as the estranged mother of Gemma Winter (Dolly-Rose Campbell) and Paul Foreman (Peter Ash), who was later diagnosed with motor neurone disease and died in late 2024.

Bernie went on to enter into a relationship with local shopkeeper Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin) and it was later established that she was the long-lost mother of DC Kit Green (Jacob Roberts), who later turned out to be the long-lost father of Brody Michaelis (Ryan Mulvey).

Bernie, who currently works in Roy’s Rolls, went on to marry Dev towards the end of last year but was dealt with further tragedy when events that unfolded in the programme’s crossover with Emmerdale saw a crash claimed the life of her son-in-law, Billy Mayhew.

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Coronation Street fans are worried for Brody Michaelis amid his dodgy dealings with Idris Nazir after a violent scene on Wednesday, with fans predicting a sad fate for the teen

Fans fear a death twist is on the way for one Coronation Street teen, after they crossed baddie Idris Nazir on Wednesday.

After some dodgy dealings with Idris over recent weeks, Brody Michaelis exposed Idris to his love interest Leanne Battersby. Revealing all about the poker night and the fact he’d risked her money in the process, Brody left Idris furious.

Idris had hosted a poker night at Leanne’s restaurant in secret. He then used the £5,000 she leant him, which he claimed was a loan for something, on the poker game. With the help of Ollie Driscoll, Idris fixed the poker game so that Ollie won, and dodgy businesswoman Fiona lost.

With Ollie winning thousands of pounds, most of it went to Idris. But the fact he’d chosen Ollie for this task and not Brody, who is keen to impress his boss, left Brody upset, and he got drunk.

As Brody confronted his boss about Ollie, Idris realised he’d had alcohol. Idris called Brody “sloppy” and a “bad liar”, saying this is why he chose Ollie. A rejected Brody then took his revenge.

As Leanne showed up at the restaurant after the clean-up, Brody dropped Idris in it by confirming the poker night. He told Leanne about the winnings too, making it clear that Idris had used her money.

A furious Leanne told Idris not to bother joining her later before storming out. As Brody laughed, Idris went over to him and attacked him. Pinning him against a wall, he grabbed him before slapping and then grabbing his face.

Idris said: “Think you’re a big man, do you? I don’t care who your dad is. If you ever cross me like that again, you’ll regret it.” He then threw Brody over, telling him to get out.

Fans watching the scenes were worried it was a hint of what is to come for the characters. With Brody tipped to take some time away later this year, as actor Ryan Mulvey works on another project, fans are fearing he could be killed off.

While his exit is only thought to be temporary, fans believe Idris’ true colours have been shown, and Brody could get caught up in dark scenes. A fan said: “I think Idris will kill Brody.”

Another viewer theorised: “I think Brodie’s going to end up asking too many questions or double crossing Idris and that’s how he leaves.” Another fan thought he’d live, but still be facing trouble thanks to Idris.

The comment read: “I can see him going to prison for a while, if the actor is leaving.”

Coronation Street airs weeknights at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITV X. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

EXCLUSIVE Emmerdale’s Joe Tate actor Ned Porteous told the Mirror that the huge wedding week will impact the whole village, and could signal a new era for the ITV soap

Emmerdale’s Joe Tate actor Ned Porteous has teased the big wedding week could be a “new era” for the ITV soap.

With stunts and tragedy teased, the wedding of Joe and his bride Dawn Taylor [Olivia Bromley] is set to end in disaster. With Dawn planning to flee with her ex Billy Fletcher [Jay Kontzle], Ned told the Mirror that Billy may need to watch.

He said: “I’ve always assumed that with a character like Joe, there’s one thing that he holds closest to his heart. The one thing that you can’t buy, and that’s love and family.

“It’s the things that he holds really dear. As a man who is outwardly volatile and dangerous, and unable to regulate his emotions, if you were to take the final thing tethering him to a life of moral good, what could that man then be capable of?”

Ned warned that as the wedding arrives, Joe may have something up his sleeve. He told us: “Well, we don’t know whether Joe already knows about Dawn and Billy.

“He could be formatting some serious revenge, or he could be completely oblivious, but we do know that Joe is capable of anything. So we’ll see.” It’s safe to say the consequences of the big week will be far-reaching.

Ned said: “It’s going to affect everyone in the village.” Ned also told us what fans can expect from the week of episodes, suggesting a new era for the soap was on the way.

He commented: “It’s a higher quality version of Emmerdale. Emmerdale is already fantastic as a show, it’s the best job I’ve ever had, but the amount of work that has been put into these episodes, and on this block and on this unit.

“The episodes that we’ve all been part of, there is a feeling to it, not just in thematic vibe, but also the quality of the cameras that we’ve been using. It is going to look and sound and feel very different, and hopefully, this could be the start of a whole new era for Emmerdale.”

Ned also addressed Joe’s deadly feud with his uncle Caleb Miligan, which is a huge part of the big week. Asked if things would get dangerous, Ned said: “Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I mean, he’s taken his kidney, we’ll see what else he manages to take!”

Asked who may come out on top, Ned coyly revealed: “I wouldn’t mess with either of them, to be honest. But, we’ll see. Ned loves the rivalry between the Tates though.

He said: “I have only ever enjoyed playing scenes with Will Ash where we’re at each other’s throats. The character that he plays, and this power dynamic between us, has been so much fun as an actor to play. So, I’m welcoming as much of that as possible, I’m really enjoying it.”

Emmerdale’s big wedding week begins on Monday 24 August on ITV1 and ITVX. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok, Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads.