Coronation Street Blog: Corrie's Mark Redman - from soap scandal to playwright

Can you remember Mark Redman? He was Mike Baldwin's son from Maggie Redman. The role of Mark Redman was played by four different actors during the course of the show and one of the actors, Chris Cook, played the part from 1992-1996.

You can find out more on Mark Redman at Corriepedia.

Well, Chris Cook, pictured above as Mark Redman in Corrie and as he is today, using a different name of Chris Hoyle, was written out of Coronation Street after he was caught with a small amount of cannabis, and cautioned by police back in 1993. But when the press got wind of it, Chris suddenly found himself making national headlines. While it didn’t immediately end his career on Corrie, by the time he was 14 his character was written out of the show.

And today, in an interview with the Manchester Evening News, Chris says: “I went from being a working class lad where all my family were so proud that I was in Coronation Street, to being shamed really. At the age of 13 being on the front page of The Sun, and then my Corrie character being fizzled out, I just felt like a massive failure. It ended up in all the papers, I remember the Mirror headline was “What a dope”. It was all getting so big for something that was so silly. Yes, it was a silly mistake as a kid to make, but it was such a small amount it would never make the papers now.

“I remember when Corrie said they were writing my character out, I thought my world had ended but I was only 14. I was taken off my Corrie contract, but because they plan so far ahead story wise, I was still booked by the day and that went on for six months, but then suddenly I got a script one day and it said my character was moving away.

“At the time I was absolutely gutted. But looking back, it was the best thing they could have done. If I’d have stayed in the show I would have continued to grow up faster and faster. I had control of my money and I was spending it all on designer clothes and being a bit of a naughty boy. I’d hang out at the Hacienda - I had a VIP card for the Hacienda and I was only 14! But what it did do, even four years after, I couldn’t shake it off. Children a lot younger than me would run up to me in the street and shout ‘druggy, druggy’.”

And now, Chris has written his debut play The Newspaper Boy, a semi-autobiographical work about a teenage soap star who finds his private life splashed over the front pages of the papers.

The Newspaper Boy is at 53Two from February 13 - 24 as part of the Queer Contact Festival. For tickets, see contactmcr.com

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