Emmerdale’s Kev Townsend star has confirmed he had previously appeared on the show when he was just 17
Emmerdale’s Kev Towsend star Chris Coghill has disclosed he previously appeared on the TV soap when he was just 17 years old.
Kev recently made a shocking entrance to the village whilst searching for his husband, Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley), after the duo met whilst incarcerated.
He remained imprisoned following an armed robbery, but owing to a terminal illness, he was granted day release to visit his partner Robert. Seeking to end their relationship, Robert then visited Kev in prison but couldn’t bring himself to go through with it.
The inmate was subsequently thrilled to be granted parole as he reunited with Robert, who was frantic to keep his marriage secret from Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller). Will Kev discover the truth?
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Speaking about joining the ITV soap as villain Kev, actor Chris Coghill told Belfast Live and other press outlets, confirming he is relishing his new role.
He said: “I’m having a really good time, I am thoroughly enjoying being here. It’s an absolutely lovely place to work, it’s a beautiful place to work, especially in the village. It’s just stunning and everybody is lovely.”
Chris then confirmed he had previously appeared on Emmerdale as a teenager in his debut acting role, reports the Daily Star.
He added: “Weirdly, my first ever job was on Emmerdale, I was 17 years old, which is 33 years ago. But I have also done Coronation Street, I have done a lot. This is very different to EastEnders.”
Before joining the ITV soap, Chris notably portrayed child abuser Tony King in the long-running BBC drama.
In 2008, Tony was brought in as Bianca Jackson’s (Patsy Palmer) partner, but he was secretly abusing her step-daughter, Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty).
The controversial storyline resulted in Chris losing out on certain roles, but the actor feels proud that the hard-hitting plot had an impact on the lives of some viewers.
He said: “It was so controversial and pretty ground-breaking at the time. The reaction to that was pretty big. People didn’t even want that to be on screen.
“People said it might get to the point where they couldn’t tell the difference between the character and you, but I didn’t really find that. People would be like, ‘You were really good in EastEnders’.”
Chris then revealed how the storyline encouraged victims of sexual abuse to come forward, adding: “It was afterwards when casting directors and so on would say, ‘We can’t really have him playing a romantic lead for a bit.'”
“But one of the reactions to that was that five or six people actually went to prison because people saw that storyline and went, ‘That happened to me,’ and went to the police.”
Chris added: “As an actor, you don’t really change people’s lives, but that sort of did.”
Emmerdale airs weekdays on ITV and ITVX
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