Coronation Street star reveals secret rejections from show bosses

Coronation Street actor Andrew Hayden-Smith has revealed that he was rejected for the ITV soap four whole times before he landed the role of Pete Lang, a potential business client of Theo Silverton who the villain charmed into bed to make Todd Grimshaw jealous.

Over on his Instagram, the star has been doing a few 'about me' posts with some interesting revelations, including that he actually auditioned to play Theo himself.

Going into detail about Corrie, he explained: "I've been an actor for 30 years. It's not always plain sailing, but I'm very grateful for the roles I've played and the opportunities I've been incredibly lucky enough to have.

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"Over the years, whenever I haven't been working, people always used to say to me, 'Well, can you not just get a job on Corrie?' Like it's that easy! Oh yeah, I'll just give them a call and tell them I'd like a part. Give over man!"

He explained that two of his four Corrie auditions were screen tests, and while he "allowed my to think maybe this is the one" all five times, he said that something about his fifth audition "felt different".

"I loved the character, I loved the storyline and I desperately wanted to finally get the chance to walk onto those cobbles.

"And this time, after four auditions. After four no's. After years of wanting to work on the show, I'd only bloody got it! Finally, I was off to Weatherfield."

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He said that he was sharing his post because he had many moments where "it would be very easy to think" that it wasn't going to happen, but he just had to keep going.

"So, whatever your version of Corrie is… Keep going."

Hollyoaks star Ross Adams, who worked behind-the-scenes at Corrie before landing the role of Scott Drinkwell, commented: "I remember being sat on the desk when you had one of these! And for what it's worth, I was convinced you had it too!"

Andy Newton-Lee, who played Liam Strong on Corrie and Robbie Flynn on Hollyoaks, wrote: "Got Corrie my first time, no callbacks LOL, Hollyoaks was 8 auditions!! What a life we choose hahaa."

Outside of Corrie, Hayden-Smith also appeared in Hollyoaks, Byker Grove, Doctor Who, Cucumber and Banana. He's known for being a continuity voice announcer on ITV and ITV2, and an iconic presenter on CBBC.

Coronation Street airs on weeknights at 8.30pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.

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