I've never been out with any of the cast of Coronation Street. We're all very close friends so it's very much a professional attitude.
I've had a fantastic time at 'Coronation Street,' and I'm chuffed at the reaction to Becky. It's been this lovely redemption story, and I think that's what the viewers have enjoyed about it.
When Cristiano burst on to the scene here in Manchester, he spent a good chunk of his early career here and enjoyed so much success. That's why it was a dream of mine to play for Manchester United and I'm very pleased to be here because it's a childhood dream come true.
Actually I was born in 1940 in Blackpool because my family lived in Manchester but Manchester was being bombed. So my mother was sent away to Blackpool to have me and then went back; so I lived my first eighteen years in Manchester and then emigrated to the States when I was eighteen.
Where I grew up was a place called Salford, which was the industrial heartland of Manchester. And where I lived in Salford, I could walk to the center of Manchester within about 20 minutes. So I lived really close to the center.
I grew up on a street that's similar to the ones you used to see in Coronation Street on TV. We had an outside toilet at the bottom of the yard and I had to share a bedroom until my older sisters left home.
I couldn't resist the idea of doing 'Coronation Street.'
In No. 1 of this street the cholera first appeared seventeen years ago, and spread up it with fearful virulence; but this year it appeared at the opposite end, and ran down it with like severity.
I would always consider going back to 'Coronation Street.'
Manchester is obviously is a huge footballing city with Manchester City and Manchester United there - and I really like this accent because my agent is also from Manchester and my girlfriend's family is from Manchester.
Being in 'Coronation Street' is only going to make me a better actor.
When I heard I had gotten 'Downton Abbey,' I remember I was standing on a freezing cold street in Manchester where we were shooting the Manchester part of 'West is West.'
I love Manchester. I always have, ever since I was a kid, and I go back as much as I can. Manchester's my spiritual home. I've been in London for 22 years now but Manchester's the only other place, I think, in the country that I could live.
I'm turning into one of those people who writes to the actors on 'Coronation Street' - a really obsessive fan.
I think life without Coronation Street would be unthinkable. It's part of all our lives.
I am unashamed to say that I have a super-crush on Kate Oates, the series producer of 'Coronation Street.'