Coronation Street star Calum Lill has revealed that he knew the sinister twist involving his character Joel Deering from the very start.
In a shock flashback scene, it was revealed this week that solicitor Joel was responsible for the murder of missing teenager Lauren (Cait Fitton) and that he has a predilection for abusing young girls.
Joel made his cobbles debut last September - aptly, being introduced as the duty solicitor dealing with one of Lauren's misdemeanours - and now Lill has admitted that he knew about his alter ego's alter ego from the moment that he joined the show.
"I've known this for over a year," he said. "It was last May that I got sent the breakdown for Joel saying that he was 'a charming character who's got a dark side'.
"When I got the screen test they said, 'Okay, this is what Joel is going to be doing'. I thought, 'Oh my goodness, like this is a really terrible person. And I've got to hide in plain sight for a year.'"
He continued: "I felt a huge weight of responsibility on my shoulders to do well and not give it away and not play some cliche, because the things Joel has done have happened to people in real life. So I had meetings with charities and did research. I watched documentaries and read psychological papers to create as much truth as possible.
"The thing that I kept in my mind was I would never want anyone who'd experienced anything like that to be watching something on screen that didn't feel authentic and feel offended.
"I did also feel safe because of all the work behind the scenes that went into creating this character and this storyline. Everyone has been so invested in making it quality and making it something to be proud of."
Coronation Street continues Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
Neil Wilkes
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