Hundreds of thousands of Coronation Road viewers will likely be heartbroken to see vicar Billy Mayhew say his final sermon after 11 years guiding his Weatherfield flock however actor Daniel Brocklebank reveals why he is not upset
Coronation Road’s vicar Billy Mayhew could also be leaving the cobbles however the actor who performs him, Daniel Brocklebank, says he hasn’t shed a tear about leaving.
However solely as a result of he is been far too busy. Forty minutes after receiving uproarious applause from 150 members of the forged and crew, he sped down the cobbles to a Manchester theatre to affix rehearsals for his subsequent position within the cult comedy basic Younger Frankenstein.
“I don’t assume I’ve ever completed one job and began one other one on the identical day,” he laughs. “I walked out of the Coronation Road studio at ten to at least one on Tuesday final week and I used to be on the theatre and in rehearsals for Younger Frankenstein by half previous one. My toes actually didn’t contact the bottom.
“I’m in Younger Frankenstein for 5 weeks and after that I’d be capable of course of issues. It’s a large change after 11 years in a single place; it’s lots to get your head round. I’ll miss Billy.”
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Once you’re taking part in somebody for that lengthy it’s like having two lives. However I’ll miss the individuals essentially the most – the camaraderie amongst the forged and crew.”
Daniel’s departure from the present was introduced in the summertime, however he says he’d been serious about for 12 months. “I’d spoken to my different half and stated ‘possibly it’s time,’” he recollects. “As an actor, I take pleasure in being challenged and I used to be very quiet within the final 12 months there. After the Motor Neurone Illness storyline, which might be the factor I’m most pleased with, I questioned actually what was left for Billy.
“He may drift into one other relationship, his daughter Summer season may get married and he may turn out to be a grandfather. However that MND storyline together with his husband Paul had such an impression, that I couldn’t work out what may occur to him that hadn’t already been finished.
“He’d been a drug addict, he’d adopted a baby, received married, had the primary ever similar intercourse wedding ceremony on the present and misplaced his husband. It’s not like he hadn’t packed it in – it’s been fairly a vibrant 11 years. I used to be in a present on the Palladium earlier this 12 months and it simply jogged my memory that there was a complete world taking place outdoors of that Weatherfield bubble.”
Then in June, Coronation Road’s producer known as Daniel in and informed him that they have been writing Billy out. He recollects: “They stated it was purely storyline-based, as is so usually the case. It felt completely proper, so I used to be philosophical about it. It’s only a job on the finish of the day and there’s no character larger than the present.
“We solely get a contract for a 12 months at a time and I don’t assume anyone of their proper thoughts would count on to be there for all times, as a result of I believe you’re presumably setting your self up for a fall. Exhibits evolve and new producers wish to herald new characters and exit characters that they really feel have had their time; that’s the character of it.
“What was actually beautiful was that when it was introduced within the press, I had a number of messages from producers and administrators I’d labored with prior to now saying, ‘that is nice information, when are you free? I’ve received this developing and I’ll be considering of you for that.’ That was good; I’d not been forgotten by these individuals.”
One such name got here from the producers of Younger Frankenstein the Musical, providing Daniel the lead position of Dr Frederick Frankenstein, who inherits his grandfather’s Transylvanian fortress. A musical comedy horror, based mostly on the 1974 movie written by Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder, Daniel stars within the present for a restricted five-week run on the Liverpool Playhouse over the Christmas season.
“It’s enjoyable and eccentric,” he smiles. “My character places a mind right into a 7ft inexperienced monster! The script is a bit naughty – it’s old-school humour, which I really like, and there are nice songs and faucet dancing. I needed to do one thing a bit left-field after leaving Coronation Road. The conventional route is to go and do a panto and possibly a little bit of actuality tv, however I’m not notably concerned with going and chewing on a kangaroo’s b*****ks within the jungle!
“I needed to do one thing that may terrify me and actually stretch me and Younger Frankenstein is doing each. It’s been thrilling to fulfill a beautiful firm of recent faces and a part of the attraction is that with Frankenstein I’m taking part in somebody so totally different to Billy. The factor with taking part in one character for therefore lengthy is that you simply turn out to be synonymous with that particular person, though I’m nothing like Billy.”
Precisely how and when Billy leaves Weatherfield is a intently guarded secret, however Daniel says he was delighted with the scripts. “Billy’s departure is becoming for a personality that has been entrance and centre of the present for lots of his tenure and I’m actually happy with it,” he smiles.
“The final scene that I filmed was on the road and 150 individuals all piled out to wave me off and hug me. Harriet Bibby who performs my daughter Summer season, bless her, was very emotional. It’s an emotional factor – you’re saying goodbye to an period of your life. I didn’t shed any tears myself, primarily as a result of I didn’t need the forged of Younger Frankenstein to have a primary impression of me as a blubbering wreck!”
Away from work, Daniel has a camper van and loves mountain climbing, strolling his three sausage canines, Colin, Jean and Doris, and dealing on his allotment close to the Manchester dwelling he shares together with his associate of two years, singer Jordan Coulthard. He started performing at 14, taking part in the lead position within the Royal Shakespeare Firm’s manufacturing of Lord of the Flies. At simply 19 he starred within the Oscar-winning movie Shakespeare in Love.
His different display successes embrace the movie The Hours, the place he appeared with Meryl Streep and he’s additionally labored with different large names together with Dustin Hoffman, Kirsten Dunst and Sam Neill. He joined Coronation Road in 2014 when he was 34 and, regardless of his lengthy tenure, has no fears about what the longer term would possibly maintain.
He explains: “I believe if Corrie had been all I’d ever recognized then I’d have been completely terrified about how I might exist outdoors of the present. However I existed for 22 years earlier than I went into it, so I do know that I can come out and exist past it. After Younger Frankenstein, there’s already stuff that’s effervescent away for subsequent 12 months, together with a horror film and a brief movie in Jersey which, contemplating that I solely completed Corrie final week is nice.
“In 65 years of Coronation Road there are solely two those who have spent their total lives there and that’s Invoice Roache and Barbara Knox – and through that point a whole bunch, presumably hundreds of actors have come and gone by means of the forged. David Neilson (Roy Cropper) put it completely. He stated ‘though it’s unhappy that you simply’re leaving us, you’ve received to do not forget that that is the start.’ And he was proper.
“That is the start of the subsequent chapter of my life. I’m solely 45. I’ve liked each second of Corrie and I’ll bear in mind it fondly for the remainder of my life, but it surely’s good to be challenged and I’m trying ahead to getting again on the market. I’m an enormous believer that every thing occurs for the appropriate motive. I believe the universe delivers what you want on the proper time and I’m precisely the place I’m meant to be.”
Daniel stars in Mel Brooks’ YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN THE MUSICAL at Liverpool Playhouse from 3 December 2025 to three January 2026 everymanplayhouse.com/occasion/young-frankenstein
