Daniel Brocklebank is one of Coronation Street's most renowned figures.
The 43-year-old soap star has played Billy Mayhew on the long-running ITV show since 2014. The vicar is one of Weatherfield's most important characters and has been at the centre of the show's most dramatic storylines.
It has been a tumultuous year on the Cobbles for Billy as he tries to keep Summer Spellman on the right path. Summer was held hostage by the villainous Mike and Esther and relied on her three dads to get her out of trouble.
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Billy has once again been at the centre of the action this week as he confessed he still loves Paul Foreman. However, the character, played by Peter Ash, broke his heart as he asserted it is better they remain friends.
Billy looks set to remain one of the Cobbles key characters and the actor told the ECHO in December he has no intention of quitting the Cobbles anytime soon. He said: " I'm in my ninth year and it's without a doubt one of the best places I've worked in my 30 year career. I adore this place."
Daniel was living in London at the time he was offered the role on Corrie and wanted time to consider the decision. He said: "I was out for lunch with my mum and my grandmother and I spoke with my agent. I said, 'look, I'll think about it and call you back."
However, Daniel's mum is a huge Corrie fan and he was in hysterics as he recalled how she stepped in to change his mind. He said: "I told her it's a three year contract and I'd probably have to move. She went 'I don't care, you're taking it. You have to take it. I'm not leaving this table until you phone him now'.
Away from the screen, Daniel was involved in a relationship with co-star Rob Mallard, who plays vicar Daniel Osbourne. The soap stars dated in 2017 and made their red carpet debut together at the British LGBT awards.
Rob won the Best Newcomer prize at the British Soap Awards that year - and said his co-star was "the best thing I've taken home this year". However, the couple split two months after going public with their relationship.
Daniel enjoyed a successful film and television career before he joined the cast of Corrie. He played Ivan Jones in Emmerdale and also Roger Green in EastEnders.
Daniel also enjoyed Hollywood success as Sam Gosse in the Academy award winning film, Shakespeare in Love. Daniel told Mirror Online how he wanted to be open about his sexuality and came out as gay after the film was released.
He said: “I pretend for a living, I didn’t want to pretend in my private life. When you spend your life on screen, it’s important to hold on to the bits that are real. “Who I am in my real life should bear no relevance to what I play on screen.”
However, he lamented how the climate was such that this had a negative impact on his career. He said: "I remember my management in Los Angeles trying to convince me not to come out because they said it would affect work – and it did."
However, he has never regretted his decision to be open about his sexuality. He added: "One of the reasons I decided to come out publicly was because of the lack of gay role models when I was growing up. I was born in 1979, so I grew up in the 80s during the AIDS epidemic and social attitudes and legalities were very different.
“I came out in the mid-1990s and the difference between then and now is huge. Now it’s incredibly fashionable to be gay and I like to think I was in a small way part of that movement to get the ball rolling.”
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