Millions of Coronation Street viewers will be heartbroken to see vicar Billy Mayhew say his last sermon after 11 years guiding his Weatherfield flock but actor Daniel Brocklebank reveals why he’s not upset
Daniel Brocklebank has played Billy Mayhew on Coronation St for 11 years.(Image: Supplied)
Coronation Street’s vicar Billy Mayhew may be leaving the cobbles but the actor who plays him, Daniel Brocklebank, says he hasn’t shed a tear about leaving.
But only because he’s been far too busy. Forty minutes after receiving uproarious applause from 150 members of the cast and crew, he sped down the cobbles to a Manchester theatre to join rehearsals for his next role in the cult comedy classic Young Frankenstein.
“I don’t think I’ve ever finished one job and started another one on the same day,” he laughs. “I walked out of the Coronation Street studio at ten to one on Tuesday last week and I was at the theatre and in rehearsals for Young Frankenstein by half past one. My feet literally didn’t touch the ground.
“I’m in Young Frankenstein for five weeks and after that I might be able to process things. It is a big change after 11 years in one place; it’s a lot to get your head around. I will miss Billy.”
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When you’re playing someone for that long it’s like having two lives. But I’ll miss the people the most – the camaraderie amongst the cast and crew.”
Daniel’s departure from the show was announced in the summer, but he says he’d been thinking about for 12 months. “I’d spoken to my other half and said ‘maybe it’s time,’” he recalls. “As an actor, I enjoy being challenged and I was very quiet in the last year there. After the Motor Neurone Disease storyline, which is probably the thing I’m most proud of, I wondered really what was left for Billy.
“He could drift into another relationship, his daughter Summer could get married and he could become a grandfather. But that MND storyline with his husband Paul had such an impact, that I couldn’t work out what could happen to him that hadn’t already been done.
“He’d been a drug addict, he’d adopted a child, got married, had the first ever same sex wedding on the show and lost his husband. It’s not like he hadn’t packed it in – it’s been quite a colourful 11 years. I was in a show at the Palladium earlier this year and it just reminded me that there was a whole world happening outside of that Weatherfield bubble.”
Daniel Brocklebank has had some great storylines as Billy Mayhew.
Then in June, Coronation Street’s producer called Daniel in and told him that they were writing Billy out. He recalls: “They said it was purely storyline-based, as is so often the case. It felt absolutely right, so I was philosophical about it. It is just a job at the end of the day and there’s no character bigger than the show.
“We only get a contract for a year at a time and I don’t think anybody in their right mind would expect to be there for life, because I think you’re possibly setting yourself up for a fall. Shows evolve and new producers want to bring in new characters and exit characters that they feel have had their time; that’s the nature of it.
“What was really lovely was that when it was announced in the press, I had lots of messages from producers and directors I’d worked with in the past saying, ‘this is great news, when are you free? I’ve got this coming up and I’ll be thinking of you for that.’ That was nice; I’d not been forgotten by those people.”
One such call came from the producers of Young Frankenstein the Musical, offering Daniel the lead role of Dr Frederick Frankenstein, who inherits his grandfather’s Transylvanian castle. A musical comedy horror, based on the 1974 film written by Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder, Daniel stars in the show for a limited five-week run at the Liverpool Playhouse over the Christmas season.
Billy has been threatened by Theo who is jealous of his and Todd’s relationship.
“It’s fun and eccentric,” he smiles. “My character puts a brain into a 7ft green monster! The script is a bit naughty – it’s old-school humour, which I love, and there are great songs and tap dancing. I wanted to do something a bit left-field after leaving Coronation Street. The normal route is to go and do a panto and maybe a bit of reality television, but I’m not particularly interested in going and chewing on a kangaroo’s b*****ks in the jungle!
“I wanted to do something that would terrify me and really stretch me and Young Frankenstein is doing both. It’s been thrilling to meet a lovely company of new faces and part of the appeal is that with Frankenstein I’m playing someone so different to Billy. The thing with playing one character for so long is that you become synonymous with that person, even though I’m nothing like Billy.”
Exactly how and when Billy leaves Weatherfield is a closely guarded secret, but Daniel says he was delighted with the scripts. “Billy’s departure is fitting for a character that has been front and centre of the show for a lot of his tenure and I’m really pleased with it,” he smiles.
“The last scene that I filmed was on the street and 150 people all piled out to wave me off and hug me. Harriet Bibby who plays my daughter Summer, bless her, was very emotional. It is an emotional thing – you’re saying goodbye to an era of your life. I didn’t shed any tears myself, mainly because I didn’t want the cast of Young Frankenstein to have a first impression of me as a blubbering wreck!”
The MND storyline where Billy’s partner Paul dies after struggling with the disease was one of the most challenging. (Image: ITV)
Away from work, Daniel has a camper van and loves hiking, walking his three sausage dogs, Colin, Jean and Doris, and working on his allotment near the Manchester home he shares with his partner of two years, singer Jordan Coulthard. He began acting at 14, playing the lead role in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Lord of the Flies. At just 19 he starred in the Oscar-winning film Shakespeare in Love.
His other screen successes include the film The Hours, where he appeared with Meryl Streep and he’s also worked with other big names including Dustin Hoffman, Kirsten Dunst and Sam Neill. He joined Coronation Street in 2014 when he was 34 and, despite his long tenure, has no fears about what the future might hold.
He explains: “I think if Corrie had been all I’d ever known then I’d have been absolutely terrified about how I would exist outside of the show. But I existed for 22 years before I went into it, so I know that I can come out and exist beyond it. After Young Frankenstein, there’s already stuff that’s bubbling away for next year, including a horror movie and a short film in Jersey which, considering that I only finished Corrie last week is great.
“In 65 years of Coronation Street there are only two people that have spent their entire lives there and that’s Bill Roache and Barbara Knox – and during that time hundreds, possibly thousands of actors have come and gone through the cast. David Neilson (Roy Cropper) put it perfectly. He said ‘although it is sad that you’re leaving us, you’ve got to remember that this is the beginning.’ And he was right.
“This is the beginning of the next chapter of my life. I’m only 45. I’ve loved every second of Corrie and I will remember it fondly for the rest of my life, but it’s good to be challenged and I’m looking forward to getting back out there. I’m a huge believer that everything happens for the right reason. I think the universe delivers what you need at the right time and I’m exactly where I’m meant to be.”
Daniel stars in Mel Brooks’ YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN THE MUSICAL at Liverpool Playhouse from 3 December 2025 to 3 January 2026 everymanplayhouse.com/event/young-frankenstein
