Coronation Street actor Joe Layton has shared insights about his experience on the cobbles as he portrays the tough character Mick Michaelis, who first appeared earlier this year.
Coronation Street’s Joe Layton, who stepped into the role of Mick Michaelis earlier this year, has shared the advice he got from fellow actors before joining the ITV soap.
Mick and his wife Lou (Farrel Hegarty) quickly made waves as “nightmare neighbours” in Weatherfield. They clashed with locals like Maria Connor (Samia Longchambon) and Ronnie Bailey (Vinta Morgan), and Mick even turned violent, attacking Sean Tully (Anthony Cotton). This happened after Mick found out Sean had reported his son Brody (Ryan Mulvey) for bullying Dylan Wilson (Liam McCheyne) at school.
Recent reports from Leicestershire Live revealed that Mick and corrupt police officer Kit Green (Jacob Roberts) have a shared past as childhood friends—until a teenage Kit committed a crime that Mick took the fall for.
Though only introduced a few months ago, it’s been confirmed that both Mick and Lou will be exiting the cobbles this summer amid a dramatic storyline.
Looking back on his time on the soap, Joe Layton called working on Coronation Street a “real gift” and opened up about the cautionary advice his fellow actors gave him before joining the cast.
Chatting to Leicester Live, Joe dished out on his new Corrie role as Mick, admitting, “I think for me, the opportunity to step into Corrie for six months with a start and a finish point is a real gift.”
He explained how it’s different from most soap contracts: “A lot of people step in and they’re on a year contract or six months with a view to more and you’re getting the scripts as they come and working out how you slot in, whereas it was kind of a gift for me to know ‘you start here, and you finish here.'”.
Joe added that early discussions with the producer gave him a clear outline of his time on the show: “I sat and had a Zoom call with Kate Brooks, the producer, and she walked me through all of it and my first reaction was ‘how are we going to cram all that into six months?’ But then I started working on Corrie and realised how fast it moves.”
The soap favourite also opened up about being tipped off by friends in the biz about the relentless pace on set. Joe confessed: “I’ve got friends who work in soaps and they all said how the pace of it is really intense and you learn so much.”
He shared his ongoing commitment to his craft, stating: “As an actor, I graduated 10 or 12 years ago and I’ve never not wanted to continue learning and growing. The opportunity to test myself and challenge myself on the cobbles – you only get one shot at it!”