James Fleet comes back to Corrie

James Fleet's mum is a Coronation Street fan but he'd got away from watching the soap until recently. In a "short but spectacular" part this week, James plays Tony Gordon's henchman, breaking him out of prison and helping him lay seige to the factory. James is a familiar face to viewers. He's well known for good natured, bumbling type characters such as Hugo on the Vicar of Dibley and Tom in Four Weddings and a Funeral. He does insert a little of that into his Corrie character, Robbie. In an interfiew in the Sunday Mail today James says "Criminals are usually a bit socially inadequate, which is why they end up in prison. They are not all glamorous secret agent types. They are more likely to be people who are weak-willed, pushed around and bullied"

He never expected to be hired to play a bad guy and thoroughly enjoyed his part. Add to that all the history of getting to work on a 50 year old soap, Coronation Street. And as for working on a soap, he had no qualms about accepting the job. "It reminds you that people who are sniffy about soaps need to be given a good talking to. The actors here do stuff which a lot of rather snooty actors wouldn't be able to do."

He also has a lot in common with his co-worker, Gray O'Brien. James grew up in Scotland though was born in England to a Scottish mother. He doesn't think he'll appear on another soap. Corrie's the best, why settle for the rest?