Corrie’s George Shuttleworth landed on the cobbles five years ago and quickly fell for Eileen Grimshaw who left him when she moved to Thailand. Since then he has certainly made an impression on the ladies
Tony Maudsley plays Goerge Shuttleworth on Coronation Street.
Coronation Street star Tony Maudsley has admitted that the first emotion he felt on landing the role of undertaker George Shuttleworth was relief.
Before landing the role on Corrie, the actor had spent seven years playing Benidorm’s camp hairdresser Kenneth Du Beke.
With his penchant for skimpy hotpants and tight t-shirts, Kenneth was one of the sitcom’s most popular characters, but when Benidorm ended in 2018, Tony worried that he was going to be typecast.
He explains: “Because I was so well known as that character, I thought nobody was going to employ me again, apart from playing that kind of character and it was kind of true. The auditions I was getting were all to play the same type of thing and I thought: oh no.’”
READ MORE: BBC Celebrity MasterChef confirms 2025 line-up with singing legend and soap iconREAD MORE: Strictly’s Dianne Buswell dealt heartbreaking blow after being forced to miss showREAD MORE: Real-life Hollyoaks couples from married pair who never worked together to TV wedding
One of the parts he was offered was that of a drag queen in a play written by a Coronation Street writer. Despite his concerns about being typecast he gratefully accepted, hoping it might be a step into Corrie and it proved to be the case.
He recalls: “The writer told me that there was a part coming up in Corrie. I said: ‘let me guess, in Audrey’s hair salon.’ He said: ‘no, it’s an undertaker,’ and I said: ‘ooh, that interests me. It was a relief. I’m very grateful to Corrie because it’s allowed me to move on.
“As much as I loved Benidorm and playing Kenneth, it was time for a change. Besides, I was 57 and my knees were starting to get saggy. I didn’t have the legs for the hotpants anymore, so I needed to go back into long trousers!”
A life-long fan of Coronation Street, Tony was thrilled, but nothing matched the excitement of his parents. During an illustrious career Tony has worked alongside Hollywood stars including Johnny Depp and Reese Witherspoon and even appeared in a Harry Potter film. But he says of his mum and dad: “They’re a lot more interested that I’m in Coronation Street than anything else I’ve been in.
“For them it’s the highlight of my career. They’re not interested in Johnny Depp. If Johnny Depp’s not in Corrie they’re not a***d! If you ask my mum who Reese Witherspoon is she’ll go: ‘I don’t b****y know!’ Tony starred opposite Reese Witherspoon in the award-winning 2004 film Vanity Fair. Filmed on location in India and various locations across the UK and with a $19m budget, the historical drama saw Tony playing the Hollywood actress’s lover and he proudly took his parents to the cinema the day the film was released.
Tony Maudsley as Kenneth in hit sitcom Benidorm.(Image: ITV)
However, their reaction wasn’t quite what he was expecting. “I was so excited waiting for my first bit to come on screen. I turned round to tell them and they were both fast asleep!” he laughs. “It was wasted on them.” Tony, 57, grew up in Knowsley, Merseyside. His mum Ann was a football pools clerk and his dad Billy worked as a welder and then in pest control. “They had very normal jobs, they couldn’t be further away from showbiz and I think at first, they just thought I was messing around and didn’t know what I was really doing,” Tony says. “I think my nan thought I was a dancer.
“They didn’t really take notice until the first time they saw me on TV, which funnily enough was on Coronation Street. I’d just left drama school and I did a couple of scenes as a henchman called Bailey who’d been hired by Alec Gilroy to frighten Steve McDonald away from his granddaughter. They were so surprised. They went: ‘oh, Tony’s on the telly!’”
Tony arrived on the cobbles as mild-mannered undertaker George five years ago. He quickly fell for taxi switchboard operator Eileen Grimshaw (Sue Cleaver), but since she left him for a new life in Thailand, George hasn’t wasted any time in moving on. Last month he found himself caught between two warring women who both had their eyes on him – Jenny Connor (Sally Ann Matthews) and Christina Boyd (Amy Robbins).
“He’s Weatherfield’s new lady magnet! He’s as surprised as anyone!” Tony laughs. “I think it’s because he’s a strong, reliable chap. He’s never going to look like Brad Pitt, but women know they will have a nice, comfortable, safe life with George. And apparently, he’s very good in bed. I did a scene recently with Amy Robbins and she told him that he was a bit of an animal in bed, so they’re well serviced in that department!”
In scenes to be screened next week, when George hears that Christina is being evicted, he invites her to move into Todd Grimshaw’s old room in his house. “It didn’t take him long to get over Eileen did it!” Tony chuckles. “But George is one of those people who is desperate to be loved, so I’m not surprised that’s he been open to finding a new love so quickly – he doesn’t want to be lonely.”
Meanwhile viewers love the close bond that has developed between George and Todd Grimshaw (Gareth Pierce), who works for him at the undertakers. But Tony reveals that their friendship will shortly come under threat from Todd’s manipulative and abusive partner Theo Silverton. “It’s a sad story,” Tony says. “George has noticed there’s been a big change in Todd since he’s been with Theo, but he hasn’t clocked why that is. They have this fall out and it broke my heart a little bit, because George had really become a father figure in Todd’s life.”
Tony Maudsley appeared alongside Reese Witherspoon in the award-winning 2004 film Vanity Fair.
Tony’s big break came in the 1998 TV film A Life for a Life. American film maker Tim Burton saw him in it and offered him a role in the 1999 film Sleepy Hollow alongside Johnny Depp. “Johnny was lovely, a really sweet guy and we became mates,” Tony recalls. “I remember him offering me a roll-up. I’d actually stopped smoking three years earlier, but I went: ‘yeah, ok, Johnny!’ I couldn’t turn down the chance of a rollie with Johnny Depp. So, we went behind the set and I nearly threw up because it was so long since I’d smoked!”
In 2001 Tony landed a part in the film My Beautiful Son, starring Julie Walters and even managed to get his parents jobs as extras. “They thought they were movie stars, but they kept looking at the camera,” Tony smiles. It was a sad scene where I was being beaten up by my wife, but when you watch it, all you can see is my mum and dad smiling and pointing at me. They loved it, but their careers as extras were short-lived!”
Tony, who lives in Manchester with his adored pet pooch Bosie the Bichon, was even invited out to Hollywood for a while. He says: “My agent set up meetings for me and I auditioned for Meet the Fockers, but it was strange. They’d seat you in the middle of the room and someone would come in and walk around you and look at you like you were a prize cow. It just didn’t grab me. I’d dabbled in Hollywood doing films, but I’m not sure I was ever hungry enough to want to live there.”
As for the rumoured return of Benidorm after seven years off our screens, Tony is unsure. “There was talk of it coming back – they checked my availability not long ago – but that’s happened many times over the last eight years,” he says. It would be different now. When we did Benidorm there was no Brexit and we could fly backwards and forwards. Plus, the sets are no longer there – it was cheaper to burn them than have them shipped back to the UK, so they would have to start from scratch.”
Not that Tony is in any rush to leave the cobbles. “When I look at my CV, I think: ‘God, you’ve had it good,’” he reflects. “I’ve been on the fringes of Hollywood, I’ve done West End musicals, I’ve toured, I’ve done plays and radio and vast amounts of television. I’ve ticked every single box that I want to tick, which means that I can be here now at Corrie and not have an itch to scratch, which is a nice position to be in.
“I would happily stay until they kill me, but they can’t kill me because they need me to bury everybody!”
For more information: www.itv.com/coronationstreet and on Twitter: @itvcorrie