Former Coronation Street star Daniel Brocklebank has revealed he is headed for the big screen just months after his departure from the long-running ITV soap. The 46-year-old spent 11 years on the cobbles playing vicar Billy Mayhew before his character was dramatically killed off in the Corriedale crossover in January. Having filmed his final scenes months ago, he is currently in rehearsals for his latest project, the play Double Double, which is running from April 28 until May 30 in the Barn Theatre, Cirencester, Cotswolds. However, speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, he said he has movie work lined up when the run of the play ends.
"I'm attached to a couple of films which are still in the financing stage at the moment," he grinned, speaking over Zoom with his Double Double co-star and fellow Coronation Street alum Faye Brooks. during a break from rehearsals. "One of them, as soon as we finish this, we will be shooting the trailer and some sort of teaser bits from that. It's exciting," he smiled.
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Although best known for playing the jovial vicar Daniel actually had an impressive CV before decamping to Weatherfield meaning that people are already used to seeing him in other roles.
"I mean, during my time at Corrie, I had movies running on Netflix and I had other TV series running on BBC and things like that. So, people could easily just switch channels and watch you being someone else," he said.
While his career is going from strength to strength he did admit to one concern about his show exit. "I've been living up there [Manchester] for 11 years. I've got three dogs, and I've got an allotment there. So I'm settled.
"Coronation Street is about as nine to five as it gets in our industry," he continued. "I mean, it's seven to seven, but at the end of the day, it's consistent. You rarely work evenings. You rarely work weekends, and the work-life balance is very prevalent," he admitted.
"Whereas at the moment doing a show like this - we're rehearsing in London, so I'm staying in a hotel, and you do have to sort of think about, have I got enough pants for the week? Oh, I've forgotten my deodorant I need to, I need to find a Boots," he laughed. "So with travelling, you just have to kind of adapt," he said.
While Daniel and Faye are both Corrie alums, Daniel admits they never really had scenes together on the Street, so this is a whole new experience for them both. Faye played Kate Connor on the soap between October 2015 and September 2019. "We never had a storyline together, particularly. But we knew each other. And I think that was hugely helpful with this, because we spoke on the phone before we started rehearsals. We chatted through the script. We've done a line run..." he said.
The two-hander see Daniel playing homeless and shabby Duncan, who is the doppelganger of Faye's character, Philippa's late husband. When she finds him living on the streets and hatches a plan, as her husband needed to be alive to receive his multi-million-pound inheritance
The thriller is described as My Fair Lady meets Dial M For Murder, and Daniel is really excited for it to take to the stage. Having spent 11 years in Corrie, what I am really loving is the opportunity to discover new characters again. That's been really, really fun," he said.
Double Double, starring Daniel Brocklebank and Faye Brooks, is running at the Barn Theatre, Cirencester, from April 28 until May 30, with tickets available here.