![\"Tony](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_TONY_07486.jpg\")
Tony Maudsley plays Goerge Shuttleworth on Coronation Street.<\/p>\nCorrie’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 ladiesTony Maudsley plays Goerge Shuttleworth on Coronation Street.<\/p>\n
Coronation Street star Tony Maudsley has admitted that the first emotion he felt on landing the role of undertaker George Shuttleworth was relief.<\/p>\n
Before landing the role on Corrie<\/a>, the actor had spent seven years playing Benidorm\u2019s camp hairdresser Kenneth Du Beke.<\/p>\n With his penchant for skimpy hotpants and tight t-shirts, Kenneth was one of the sitcom\u2019s most popular characters, but when Benidorm ended in 2018, Tony worried that he was going to be typecast.<\/p>\n He explains: \u201cBecause 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.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE: BBC Celebrity MasterChef confirms 2025 line-up with singing legend and soap icon<\/a>READ MORE: Strictly’s Dianne Buswell dealt heartbreaking blow after being forced to miss show<\/a>READ MORE: Real-life Hollyoaks couples from married pair who never worked together to TV wedding<\/a><\/p>\n One of the parts he was offered was that of a drag queen in a play written by a Coronation Street<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n He recalls: \u201cThe writer told me that there was a part coming up in Corrie. I said: \u2018let me guess, in Audrey\u2019s hair salon.\u2019 He said: \u2018no, it\u2019s an undertaker,\u2019 and I said: \u2018ooh, that interests me. It was a relief. I\u2019m very grateful to Corrie because it\u2019s allowed me to move on.<\/p>\n “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\u2019t have the legs for the hotpants anymore, so I needed to go back into long trousers!\u201d<\/p>\n 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<\/a> film. But he says of his mum and dad: \u201cThey\u2019re a lot more interested that I\u2019m in Coronation Street than anything else I\u2019ve been in.<\/p>\n \u201cFor them it\u2019s the highlight of my career. They\u2019re not interested in Johnny Depp. If Johnny Depp\u2019s not in Corrie they\u2019re not a***d! If you ask my mum who Reese Witherspoon is she\u2019ll go: \u2018I don\u2019t b****y know!\u2019 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\u2019s lover and he proudly took his parents to the cinema the day the film was released.<\/p>\n However, their reaction wasn\u2019t quite what he was expecting. \u201cI was so excited waiting for my first bit to come on screen. I turned round to tell them and they were both fast asleep!\u201d he laughs. \u201cIt was wasted on them.\u201d 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. \u201cThey had very normal jobs, they couldn\u2019t be further away from showbiz and I think at first, they just thought I was messing around and didn\u2019t know what I was really doing,\u201d Tony says. \u201cI think my nan thought I was a dancer.<\/p>\n \u201cThey didn\u2019t really take notice until the first time they saw me on TV, which funnily enough was on Coronation Street. I\u2019d just left drama school and I did a couple of scenes as a henchman called Bailey who\u2019d been hired by Alec Gilroy to frighten Steve McDonald away from his granddaughter. They were so surprised. They went: \u2018oh, Tony\u2019s on the telly!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Tony arrived on the cobbles as mild-mannered undertaker George five years ago. He quickly fell for taxi switchboard operator Eileen Grimshaw (Sue Cleaver<\/a>), but since she left him for a new life in Thailand, George hasn\u2019t wasted any time in moving on. Last month he found himself caught between two warring women who both had their eyes on him \u2013 Jenny Connor (Sally Ann Matthews<\/a>) and Christina Boyd (Amy Robbins).<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s Weatherfield\u2019s new lady magnet! He\u2019s as surprised as anyone!\u201d Tony laughs. \u201cI think it\u2019s because he\u2019s a strong, reliable chap. He\u2019s never going to look like Brad Pitt, but women know they will have a nice, comfortable, safe life with George. And apparently, he\u2019s 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\u2019re well serviced in that department!\u201d<\/p>\n In scenes to be screened next week, when George hears that Christina is being evicted, he invites her to move into Todd Grimshaw\u2019s old room in his house. \u201cIt didn\u2019t take him long to get over Eileen did it!\u201d Tony chuckles. \u201cBut George is one of those people who is desperate to be loved, so I\u2019m not surprised that\u2019s he been open to finding a new love so quickly \u2013 he doesn\u2019t want to be lonely.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile viewers love the close bond that has developed between George and Todd Grimshaw (Gareth Pierce<\/a>), who works for him at the undertakers. But Tony reveals that their friendship will shortly come under threat from Todd\u2019s manipulative and abusive partner Theo Silverton. \u201cIt\u2019s a sad story,\u201d Tony says. \u201cGeorge has noticed there\u2019s been a big change in Todd since he\u2019s been with Theo, but he hasn\u2019t 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\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n Tony\u2019s 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. \u201cJohnny was lovely, a really sweet guy and we became mates,\u201d Tony recalls. \u201cI remember him offering me a roll-up. I\u2019d actually stopped smoking three years earlier, but I went: \u2018yeah, ok, Johnny!\u2019 I couldn\u2019t 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\u2019d smoked!\u201d<\/p>\n 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. \u201cThey thought they were movie stars, but they kept looking at the camera,\u201d 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!\u201d<\/p>\n Tony, who lives in Manchester<\/a> with his adored pet pooch Bosie the Bichon, was even invited out to Hollywood for a while. He says: \u201cMy agent set up meetings for me and I auditioned for Meet the Fockers, but it was strange. They\u2019d 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\u2019t grab me. I\u2019d dabbled in Hollywood doing films, but I\u2019m not sure I was ever hungry enough to want to live there.\u201d<\/p>\n As for the rumoured return of Benidorm after seven years off our screens, Tony is unsure. \u201cThere was talk of it coming back \u2013 they checked my availability not long ago \u2013 but that\u2019s happened many times over the last eight years,\u201d he says. It would be different now. When we did Benidorm there was no Brexit<\/a> and we could fly backwards and forwards. Plus, the sets are no longer there \u2013 it was cheaper to burn them than have them shipped back to the UK, so they would have to start from scratch.\u201d<\/p>\n Not that Tony is in any rush to leave the cobbles. \u201cWhen I look at my CV, I think: \u2018God, you\u2019ve had it good,\u2019\u201d he reflects. \u201cI\u2019ve been on the fringes of Hollywood, I\u2019ve done West End musicals, I\u2019ve toured, I\u2019ve done plays and radio and vast amounts of television. I\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI would happily stay until they kill me, but they can\u2019t kill me because they need me to bury everybody!\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Tony](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_BENIDORM-SERIES-5.jpg\")
Tony Maudsley as Kenneth in hit sitcom Benidorm.(Image: ITV)<\/p>\n![\"Tony](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_vanity-fair_CvWO8P.jpg\")
Tony Maudsley appeared alongside Reese Witherspoon in the award-winning 2004 film Vanity Fair.<\/p>\n