Ian Kelsey, who played Vinny Ashford on Coronation Street, has opened up about his time on the ITV soap, nearly a decade after his character was killed off. The actor shared his admiration for Connor McIntyre, who played the villainous Pat Phelan, and revealed he would be open to appearing in rival soaps.
Vinny Ashford's deadly storyline
Vinny Ashford arrived on the cobbles as the corrupt business partner of Pat Phelan. The pair ran a fraudulent property scheme together. Vinny later betrayed Pat and planned to flee with all the money they had swindled from victims.
In an unexpected turn, Pat tracked Vinny down and abducted him along with Andy Carver, played by Oliver Farnworth. Pat then forced Andy to shoot and kill Vinny, before fatally shooting Andy himself.
Praise for Connor McIntyre
Speaking to HeartBingo, Ian was asked whether he relished the storyline. He replied: "Of course, it was amazing to be a part of. Connor (McIntyre) is the absolute opposite of his character, too. He's one of the loveliest people I've ever met in the business. It was an absolute joy to work on that show. It really, really was."
When asked if he still keeps in touch with anyone from Coronation Street, Ian explained that he visited Connor at his art studio in Plymouth after passing his motorbike test and riding down to see him.
Open to other soaps
Despite his character's deadly end, Ian shared that he would be keen to appear in other soaps such as EastEnders or Hollyoaks. He commented: "Yeah, absolutely. I just haven't had the opportunity to audition for EastEnders yet, so I'm not ruling that out. Who knows what's around the corner? Somebody might read this interview and think of me."
Before Coronation Street, Ian first rose to prominence when he joined Emmerdale in 1994 as farmhand Dave Glover. Dave died after rushing into a fire at Home Farm to save baby Jamie Tate. Ian also played Dr Patrick Spiller in Casualty, who died of a pulmonary embolism, and Howard Bellamy in Doctors, who met a similar end.
Asked which soap had the liveliest party scene, Ian said: "Casualty was a big party job. It really was. It was hell for me because I had tons of Latin to learn. I was playing a registrar working in A&E, so I had massive chunks of medical jargon that I had no idea what I was saying. I just had to learn it, parrot fashion. And if you went up to Bristol to work on Casualty, you'd better be prepared to go out! We'd drag the guest artists out all the time."
Coronation Street is available to watch on ITVX.
