Tony Hirst, who played Paul Kershaw on Coronation Street from 2010 to 2013, has revealed that some of his male co-stars went to extreme lengths in preparation for a nude scene on the ITV soap.
He recalled a 'Full Monty style scene' filmed in the Bistro as part of a fundraising event where characters stripped. 'I remember doing a Full Monty style scene on Coronation Street where we had to be naked,' he said.
Extreme preparation for nude scenes
'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 told the Daily Star.
Hirst, who also played Mike Barnes in Hollyoaks from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2016 to 2017, praised the work of soap actors.
Praise for soap acting
'I feel like soap acting doesn’t get the credit it deserves. It’s seriously hard work. 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 said.
He continued: '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. You’ve got to learn lines quickly, and those are real key skills.'
