A look back at Sean Wilson's Corrie moments following his Coronation Street exit. The actor, 59, who plays Martin Platt in the soap, was pictured posing with scripts weeks before it was announced that he had quit for 'personal reasons.'
Have YOU got a story? Email [email protected] Coronation Street 's future has been thrown into turmoil with the news that Sean Wilson has suddenly exited the soap, just weeks after his much-publicised return as part of Gail Platt's exit.
So, as fans wonder whether Corrie can recover from its latest crisis, MailOnline takes a look at the various set-backs that have hit the scandal-plagued show... Read More Coronation Street's Sean Wilson said soap 'no longer had great acting or writing' - before he was suddenly axed just weeks after his surprise return Actress Helen Worth had announced she would be leaving the soap this Christmas, leading fans to hope they would see Gail and Martin ride off into the sunset together.
Sean's agent told the publication: 'Neither he nor I will be making any further comment or statement.' A source told The Sun: 'It's been an absolutely frantic, incredibly stressful past couple of weeks for Corrie bosses and scriptwriters. Since their inception, Corrie has been a regular winner at The National Television Awards and British Soap Awards, however last year, eyebrows were raised when it failed to scoop a single gong at the NTAs.
While Corrie is up for two gongs at the National Television Awards next month, it remains to be seen whether they will come out on top. Younger cast members are thought to be on £400 per episode with contracts of a minimum of 30 episodes per year But that means salaries can vary wildly, with veteran stars like Helen at the top of the sliding scale of fees, taking home around £2,000 per episode, while younger cast members are thought to be on £400.
Read More How Helen Worth 'decided to leave' amid The Great Corrie Cut back The ITV soap has been forced to adopt a 'minimal' approach to ensemble scenes - such as those in the Rovers Return Inn - due to cost-cutting measures, which also include limiting the number of extras used and increasing back to back episode filming which means longer hours per day for the stars.
Reports of cost cutting have been rumbling on for months. Last summer it was claimed that a host of soap stars from Coronation Street, Emmerdale and EastEnders were reportedly facing the axe. 'Some of the veterans are terrified they could be next — especially the older generation who are all earning well over £200,000. Working in soaps has never been more perilous than it is now.'
With more competition than ever from streamers, the proportion of Brits watching a programme on broadcast TV each week dropped from 83 per cent in 2021 to 79 per cent in 2022 - the sharpest decline since records began. Overall soap audiences are down 42 per cent since 2014. The Christmas Day episode of Corrie was viewed by 2.6million - down almost three quarters from 10 years ago.
Anxious bosses have been desperately looking at how they can attract a new audience, as even their older viewers are watching less terrestrial TV in favour of streaming giants. In March it was announced that Emmerdale's Kate Brooks had landed the job of Corrie producer, however sources claimed a number of execs turned down the job
ITV's top drama boss and former editor of The Archers Huw Kennair-Jones was drafted in to sort the problem out and he has approached a number of top television executives working at the BBC, Channel 4 and Sky in a bid to lure them across. 'It's a ''MacLeod sandwich'' that no one wants to be in the middle of and it's now become even more of a headache for ITV.'
Show insiders say that there have been a number of conversations amongst the top brass at ITV that Corrie series producer Iain MacLeod had been in the job too long after joining the show back in 2018 because it is a role that has always changed hands every two to three years. In April, Coronation Street faced huge backlash from viewers, when it was revealed bosses had penned a grim plot which saw Toyah Battersby's character have a secret baby after being raped in 2001.
Toyah lost her temper and became hysterical over the lack of respect before later revealing her traumatic experience and the name of her rapist to Nick after he witnessed the altercation.Former soap star Vicky Entwistle, who played her mother Janice Battersby in the Noughties, blasted the show's producers and writers for meddling with the old plot.
'What is stupid about this as well. Is that Toyah went through ivf with Peter and when she was told she couldn't have children she didn't mention anything about it. It's stupid that they suddenly create these storylines when it happened not that long ago in the classic Corrie'
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