Adam Woodyatt and Simon Gregson reflected on their decades-long soap careers on I’m A Celebrity tonight.
The pair spoke about acting on BBC One’s EastEnders and ITV’s Coronation Street and how they first started.
Sitting around the campfire, Frankie asked Simon: “Are you still in Corrie?”
Simon said: “Yeah. 32 years [I’ve been on it].”
Frankie asked: “Do you never think, I want to do other characters and other things?”
Simon said: “No. I’ve never done anything but play Steve. It’s the only thing I’ve ever done. I wanted to join the military or race cars.”
In the Telegraph Simon added: “If things had been different I could have been driving tanks or racing cars.”
Simon continued to his campmates: “I was 15 when I started filming. 14 when I got the job. They went round loads of different schools in Manchester looking for two young lads to play the McDonald twins. And we were sat in assembly and they said there were people here from TV. Which in 1989 was like, ‘Oh my god! No way!’ I was like, ‘I’m going to check this out.’”
Meanwhile, Adam said of his career start: “I started when I was 9. There was a kid in my class who went off and was doing commercials. My mum spoke to his mum, got the details, went round to this lady’s house in Leytonstone.
“She had a piano. She said, ‘Can you sing?’ Back then I could. Sang a few tunes and read a bit of a book. And that was Sylvia Young’s front room. Way, way before she had the school.”
Simon admitted: “It was difficult for a while to adjust. This isn’t what I planned for myself and I do not like it. I hated it. The fame side of it I hated it. I still don’t [like it].”
Frankie asked: “What made you leave EastEnders Adam?”
Adam replied: “I just had another opportunity. This play came up. I just fancied doing something different. The way the storyline is, they needed me to take a break. Yeah.. the break’s just got longer.”
Kadeena asked him: “Would you ever get into film?”
Adam laughed: “I’m available as of April.”
I’m A Celebrity continues nightly at 9PM on ITV and ITV Hub.
