Colson Smith has opened up about the moment he discovered his Coronation Street character PC Craig Tinker was being axed by soap bosses
Colson Smith has revealed the difficult moment when he was sacked from Coronation Street. The actor bowed out of the ITV soap opera on Wednesday night’s episode when Craig Tinker was killed off. The police officer died in brutal scenes on the ITV soap after a vicious attack at the hands of villain Mick Michaelis in the previous episode. Mick beat innocent Craig with a bat before leaving him for dead.
After Craig was rushed to the hospital, his nearest and dearest had been hopeful that he would survive despite his horrific injuries, including swelling on the brain following the brutal attack. Sadly, Craig tragically died, leaving Kirk Sutherland completely heartbroken as he rushed into the hospital room in floods of tears.
Now, Colson, 26, has spoken about the moment show boss Kate Brooks told him that the character was exiting the soap. “It feels like the end, and it’s great. It’s a bookmarked, signed, sealed, delivered sort of thing. It’s been nice to see it play out,” he said.
Speaking to Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard on This Morning, he went on to add: “When you get told you’re leaving a show, the one thing you ask is ‘Am I killed and how do I go?’ I wanted to be killed. I think that really was the right thing. I’ve been in that building since I was 12 years old. I know how it works; you pick up on vibes, you pick up on things.
Colson revealed he’s told Corrie’s boss Kate Brooks he wanted his character to be killed off(Image: ITV/This Morning)
“I told Jack and Ben, tonight’s the night, will you be there for me? I went up to the boss, and she said, ‘This isn’t going to be an easy conversation.’ I said, ‘Let’s get it out of the way.'”
Speaking about his meeting with Kate, he said: “Getting told is hard, hearing the words – I tried really hard not to put the words into her mouth. As soon as I knew, I was at peace with what was going on.” Despite asking to be killed off from the soap, Colson has also revealed he had no idea how brutal it would be.
He questioned the show boss Kate during their meeting, which left her “stumbling.” He had two key things he wanted to know, before reassuring her on what the right way for Craig to bow out would be. Speaking to the Mirror, Colson revealed: “There had been about 20 minutes of Kate talking to me, but we hadn’t touched on when or how, or who or what.
Colson told Cat and Ben it was ‘hard’ to hear the news from Kate(Image: ITV/Coronation Street)
“So I kind of stopped Kate and said, ‘Look, I have two questions, and one is when, and two is, do I get killed?’. And she kind of like, stopped and stumbled a little bit.” But Colson was quick to let Kate know he was keen, if he had to leave, that Craig died so that his exit was final.
He said: “For me to go, I would want to leave. I would want to die, I would want the door to be shut, so then I can kind of know in my head that Corrie has been this, Corrie has done that, and it is now done, and Craig’s journey is over.”
Although some actors would say working on Corrie would be their career highlight, Colson revealed to Cat and Ben that this wasn’t the case for him. Instead, his career highlight was getting to know his co-stars, members of production, security and other members of staff behind the scenes.
He revealed that in the summer, bosses throw on a spread for those who work on the Manchester-based soap. This includes hiring an ice cream van, allowing everybody to kick back and relax under the scorching sun throughout the summer following a hard day at work.
This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV One and ITV X. Coronation Street airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITV X
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