{"id":151318,"date":"2025-11-24T14:47:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T14:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/151318\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T14:47:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T14:47:09","slug":"coronation-streets-daniel-brocklebank-breaks-silence-on-shows-shock-decision-to-write-out-billy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/151318\/","title":{"rendered":"Coronation Street’s Daniel Brocklebank breaks silence on show’s shock decision to write out Billy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coronation Street<\/a> star Daniel Brocklebank has spoken about what it was like learning that the ITV soap’s bosses wanted to write his character Billy Mayhew out after being part of the cast since 2014.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Mirror<\/a>, the actor recalled being called into the production office in June and being told the news.<\/p>\n

“They said it was purely storyline-based, as is so often the case,” he said. “It felt absolutely right, so I was philosophical about it. It is just a job at the end of the day and there’s no character bigger than the show.<\/p>\n

“We only get a contract for a year at a time and I don’t think anybody in their right mind would expect to be there for life, because I think you’re possibly setting yourself up for a fall.<\/p>\n

“Shows evolve and new producers want to bring in new characters and exit characters that they feel have had their time; that’s the nature of it.”<\/p>\n

\"billy<\/p>\n

ITV<\/p>\n

Related: Best film and TV tours for 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

One reason for his pragmatic response to learning he was being axed was his admission that he had been thinking of calling it a day for about 12 months at that time anyway.<\/p>\n

“I’d spoken to my other half and said ‘maybe it’s time,'” he said. “As an actor, I enjoy being challenged and I was very quiet in the last year there.<\/p>\n

“After the Motor Neurone Disease storyline, which is probably the thing I\u2019m most proud of, I wondered really what was left for Billy.<\/p>\n

“He could drift into another relationship, his daughter Summer could get married and he could become a grandfather. But that MND storyline with his husband Paul had such an impact, that I couldn\u2019t work out what could happen to him that hadn\u2019t already been done.”<\/p>\n

Brocklebank recalled some of Billy’s big stories, including his drug addiction storyline, and stated: “It’s not like he hadn’t packed it in \u2013 it’s been quite a colourful 11 years.”<\/p>\n

\"billy<\/p>\n

ITV<\/p>\n

Related: Coronation Street villain solidifies exit plan \u2013 and suggests a big change for Debbie<\/a> <\/p>\n

The actor stated that plenty of producers and directors he had worked with before messaged him after his exit was announced, which led to him landing a role in Young Frankenstein on stage, a project he jumped into very quickly after wrapping. <\/p>\n

“I don’t think I’ve ever finished one job<\/a> and started another one on the same day,” he admitted. “I walked out of the Coronation Street studio at 10 to one on Tuesday last week and I was at the theatre and in rehearsals for Young Frankenstein by half past one. My feet literally didn’t touch the ground.<\/p>\n

“I’m in Young Frankenstein for five weeks and after that I might be able to process things. It is a big change after 11 years in one place; it’s a lot to get your head around. I will miss Billy.”<\/p>\n

Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read more Coronation Street spoilers on our dedicated homepage<\/a><\/p>\n

The new edition of Living Legends is here! Buy Ariana & Witches in newsagents or online<\/a>, priced at just \u00a38.99.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coronation Street star Daniel Brocklebank has spoken about what it was like learning that the ITV soap’s bosses…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[2115,101078,2117,156,2116,111,139,69,101077,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-151318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-content-type-news","9":"tag-contentid-472f9ae4-7a32-47e7-8be0-ec46682355b6","10":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-locale-gb","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz","16":"tag-shorttitle-corrie-star-on-shows-decision-to-write-out-billy","17":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}