Tony Hirst, best known for playing Paul Kershaw on Coronation Street, has lifted the lid on backstage secrets, revealing that some of his co-stars went to extreme lengths to appear as “buff as possible” on screen.
Soap acting is seriously hard work
Hirst, who also played Mike Barnes on Hollyoaks from 2006 to 2010, said soap actors do not get enough credit for the “seriously hard work” they put in. “If you don’t make quick choices in a soap opera, you're either going to look absolutely silly or you're going to be gone,” he told Betway Insider.
He added: “You have to think quickly, make good choices, and you might have 12 scripts on the go, all being shot out of order. You get very little direction, so you have to be accurate, efficient, and on it all the time.”
Nude scenes and extreme preparation
Reflecting on his time on Coronation Street, Hirst recalled a “Full Monty style scene where we had to be naked.” He said: “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.”
Hirst played Paul Kershaw from 2010 to 2013, a character at the centre of storylines including a love triangle with Eileen Grimshaw and his Alzheimer's-affected wife Lesley. He left the soap 13 years ago after his character departed Weatherfield following accusations of racism.
