Ex-Coronation Street star Steven Arnold opens up about life away from the Cobbles six years on
Actor played Ashley Peacock on ITV soap for 15 years before leaving in dramatic 2010 tram crash episode
EX-CORRIE star Steven Arnold still misses his character Ashley Peacock - six years after leaving the show.
The 41-year-old played the lovable butcher on the ITV soap for 15 years before being killed off in the soap's dramatic tram crash storyline to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2010.
Steven has gone on to have a successful career on stage but still has moments where he misses his alter ego.
Speaking to Gaby Roslin on Thursday's Lorraine, he said: "I do, he’ll always have a special place in my heart as I played him for such a long time.
"There’s elements that you miss but you can still put him in characters that you play here and there."
Since leaving Weatherfield, Steven has starred in numerous stage productions including Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, where he played Bottom, and a theatre version of classic TV show Darling Buds of May.
He has also featured in a number of films, including 2015's Womble alongside Johnny Vegas.
His next project sees him take to the stage alongside a fellow former Coronation Street star, actress Linda Clark, who played character Marcus Dent's mother Janet in 2012.
The stars have appeared alongside each other before in pantomime, but their new production, a two-hander called Broken Strings, sees Steven play a bereaved husband who ends up living with his mother-in-law, played by Linda.
He said: ";It’s about their journey of her losing her daughter and him losing his wife and their relationship."
Steven is thrilled with how his career has turned out, especially as it could have gone completely differently if he hadn't been kept on at Coronation Street.
He said: "I originally went in for one episode then John Savident who played Fred [Elliott] said 'I could use you for another episode', he suggested me to do another episode so I said yeah.
"I was made up as it was another episode fee then a week later my agent phoned me up and said they’d offered me a three month contract and then I was there for just over 15 years."
Viewers were left in bits when Ashley died in The Joinery Bar, after getting crushed by the collapsed ceiling after heroically helping to save Peter Barlow's life.
After revisiting the clip, Gaby couldn't believe it had been six years since he was on the show.
Steven replied: "Yeah, it doesn’t seem like that at all really, it’s flown by. It was just such a great programme to work on really.
"It was an incredible experience and really enjoyed my time there and what a wonderful character to play."