ITV Coronation Street legend reveals how he would save the soap amid falling ratings
Sean Wilson, who played Martin Platt in Coronation Street for over twenty years, has blamed the soap’s approach to its stories for falling viewing figures.
Fans of the ITV soap will recall that Wilson joined the show as a teenager in 1985, and over the next two decades was at the centre of some of its biggest plots.
His character Martin married Jim’s Cafe manageress Gail Tilsley (Helen Worth) and later fathered their son David (now Jack P. Shepherd), though the couple divorced after an affair and Martin found himself falling for 16 year old neighbour Katy Harris (Lucy-Jo Hudson).
At the time it was reported that Sean didn’t agree with producer’s decisions to have Martin and underage Katy together, leading to his departure.
Since then, he has forged a career as a cheese connoisseur, launching his own company Artisan Farm in 2009.
A brief return stint followed in 2018 when David turned to Martin for guidance after he was raped by Josh Tucker (Ryan Clayton), but his character was later sent to live in New Zealand.
Speaking to The Daily Star, the actor said: ‘I think the world of soaps is a different vehicle nowadays.’
‘I think I was part of the British soap industry at the best time, the halcyon years when there was 18 or 21 million people watching it’ he added.
He also cited current storylines for falling viewing figures, which include Paul Foreman’s (Peter Ash) heartbreaking battle with motor neurone disease and Lauren Bolton (Cait Fitton) selling nude photographs online: ‘They [the stories] were all segwayed together [in his time]; you were five minutes from laughing and five minutes from crying.’
‘Nowadays it seems very much issue-centric, they’re trying to solve the world’s issues, which they’re not going to do.’
Wilson didn’t comment on one of Corrie’s biggest issue based storylines from his time on the cobbles, when thirteen year old step-daughter Sarah-Louise Platt (Tina O’Brien) fell pregnant.
The actor also made an ambitious claim that extra-marital affairs could see the show’s ratings improve: ’During my marriage to Gail, they would have me having an affair or two, and they would last a year,’
‘The whole affair would last a year and it would always culminate around Christmas time,’ he added.
‘On Christmas Day you would find yourself being one of the main characters in the show and there would be 21 or 22 million viewers.’
One current ongoing storyline, which launched on Christmas Day, is centring around Tracy McDonald (Kate Ford) cheating on her husband Steve (Simon Gregson) with his footballing hero Tommy Orpington (Matt Milburn).
On a potential return in the future, he said: ‘Well, we’ll see. If the question was put in front of me then I’d have to think about it,’
‘I’m more than happy living the dream right now.’