A Corrie Cobble for Sir Ian McKellan

Sir Ian McKellen, formerly Mel Hutchwright on Coronation Street circa 2005, has received a most unusual birthday present. He made an appearance last month on This Morning and was presented with the gift of a cobble from the old Corrie set, mounted and beribboned.

It was accompanied by a video greeting from Bill Roache who worked on the Mel Hutchwright story with most of the senior cast members at the time. You can see a video clip of the greeting and Mr. McKellen receiving his gift from host Eamonn Holmes here.

He was delighted with the gift and has a spot already picked out for it:

"I know exactly where this will go, alongside my portrait of Violet Carson who played Ena Sharples. Thank you very very much indeed."

Here's a YouTube video of clips from  bits of the storyline and the full episode from his final appearance is here. Excellent stuff!




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Corrie gays named in World Pride Power List 2012

Three openly out and proud Coronation Street actors have been named in the Word Pride Power List 2012.  The list has been compiled by The Guardian in association with Square Peg Media. Judges included Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall; Michael Fuller, managing director United Health UK; Linda Riley, managing director of Square peg Media and Cuc Vu, chief diversity officer of the Human Rights campaign

So, here we go with the men from Corrie who've been named in the list. What? No Phil Collinson?

Number 7: Sir Ian McKellen.  He played con man Mel Hutchwright in Coronation Street and is somewhat of a global superstar.  He came out in 1998 during a Radio 3 session on Section 28 and from then on brought al his star power to bear on the cause of equality, co-founding Stonewall and regularly speaking and writing on gay issues.

Number 15: Charlie Condou.  Plays Marcus Dent in Coronation Street. Father of two and champion of gay parenting.  Is wonderful, entertaining and polite on twitter @charliecondou

Number 32: Antony Cotton. Plays Sean Tully in Coronation Street. Is on twitter. The Guardian says "Cotton has done much to break down prejudice among the show's massive UK audience."  This fan would argue he hasn't done half as much as straight actor Julie Hesmondhalgh who plays transsexual Hayley Cropper, but that's just my own personal point of view.

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Antony Cotton says Enough is Enough

Antony Cotton, who plays Coronation Street's Sean Tully, has been on GMTV this morning to launch the Lesbian and Gay Foundation's new Enough is Enough! Action Against Homophobia campaign. He was talking to Ben Shepard live from the Corrie cobbles. You can see that here.

Antony also stars in the Enough is Enough! Action Against Homophobia video, featuring Sir Ian McKellen (Corrie's Mel Hutchwright) too. Watch the YouTube here.