![\"Antony](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_192682733-1c91.jpg\")
\n\t\tAntony Cotton paid tribute to a colleague (Picture: Ken McKay\/ITV\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tAntony Cotton paid tribute to a colleague (Picture: Ken McKay\/ITV\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n
Coronation Street<\/a> star Antony Cotton<\/a> has paid tribute to a \u2018much-loved\u2019 colleague following his death.<\/p>\n Matthew Owens worked behind the scenes on several stunt blocks for the ITV<\/a> soap as a fire safety advisor, where he and Antony met in 2013.<\/p>\n The Sean Tully<\/a> actor took to Instagram<\/a> to share a picture of the order of service from the funeral, alongside an emotional caption.<\/p>\n \u2018Today was a very hard day for so many people, especially Matt\u2019s family,\u2019 he wrote. <\/p>\n \u2018I still can\u2019t quite get my head round it, to be honest. Matt was just a really, really nice lad. <\/p>\n \u2018We met when he did the fire safety for a stunt block at Coronation Street, 13 years ago and we\u2019ve been friends ever since. <\/p>\n \u2018He was a much loved son, brother, dad, colleague and partner. He was also a quiet and humble, solid friend. <\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019ll miss hearing from you Matt, out of the blue sometimes, but always with a smile. You are at rest now, no more worries Matty Boy.\u2019<\/p>\n Alongside his work as a firefighter, Matt worked on numerous high-profile TV series, including other soaps like Emmerdale and Hollyoaks.<\/p>\n \t\t He began working on Emmerdale in 2011, and was involved in some huge stunts, including the helicopter crash<\/a> and the Hotten bypass crash.<\/p>\n His first stunt on Coronation Street was the Rovers Return fire in 2013, and most recently he worked on the dramatic Halloween episodes in 2021.<\/p>\n These episodes saw Abi Webster<\/a> (Sally Carman<\/a>) face off with her son\u2019s killer, Corey Brent, while Leanne Battersby<\/a> (Jane Danson<\/a>) was held hostage by gangster Harvey Gaskell<\/a>.<\/p>\n The dramatic scenes also resulted in the tragic deaths of Johnny Connor<\/a> and Natasha Blakeman.<\/p>\n![\"Matthew](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_259842971-e085.jpg\")
\n\t\tMatthew Owens worked on several soaps (Picture: Facebook\/Matthew Owens)<\/p>\n