CORONATION Street star Will Mellor has incorporated a sweet tribute to his late father in his role as criminal thug Harvey.
Harvey is currently behind bars on the soap, but that hasn’t stopped him from terrorising Nick and Leanne in a bid to stop them testifying against him.
He even managed to orchestrate a kidnapping of Young Sam in order to drive his point home.
But while his character is seemingly unsavable, Will knows that dad Bill would’ve been chuffed to see him on the iconic soap – so made sure there’s a small memento of him on screen with him.
“It’s [something] I bought him years ago,” he told The Mirror.
“I put it into the character and it works – we’ve got him with me on my little finger in the character.”
Bill died in April 2020, just two weeks after he collapsed and doctors found a mass on his lung that had travelled to his brain.
Due to Covid regulations at the height of the pandemic lockdown, Will wasn’t able to say a proper goodbye.
As a result he believes his stint has been a massive boost for his family – especially as Coronation Street is such an unbeatable landmark show for a ‘northern-raised lad’.
“Doing Corrie has been a lift for the family and a boost for my mum – it’s been really tough for her,” he said. “She’s on her own now, so it’s a good distraction for her.
“Coronation Street has been part of my family my whole life, especially being a northern kid – when I first got an agent when I was 12, my mum’s dream was always for me to be in Corrie, although she’s always been so proud of everything I’ve done.
“She loves the show. Obviously, with the character being so different to me, she’s like, ‘He doesn’t even look like you!’ I say, ‘That’s the point, mum!’”
