“I’m always the bad guy,” he says, a little ruefully. “It must be my face. I have a face only a mother could love….”
He grins. “I need find a nice, decent, wholesome role next….”
Edward is at the heart of a powerful River City domestic abuse storyline, which is about to come to a shocking conclusion on Christmas Day.
(Image: ALAN PEEBLES)
After months of controlling and manipulating his husband Mikey (Darren Brownlie), isolating him from his friends and family, Edward’s character Jonathon is angry when Gillian (Gail Watson) invites herself and Sonny (Jimmy Chisholm) over for Christmas dinner.
Things boil over into a dangerous argument, dishes are smashed, sprouts are ruined and someone, suddenly, is badly hurt. Will they pull through? What does it mean for Mikey and Jonathon? Will the bad guy finally get his comeuppance?
Edward Corrie plays Jonathon (Image: ALAN PEEBLES)
“These have been horrible scenes to film,” admits Edward. “But I feel lucky to be part of such a wonderful team.
“I’ve got the perfect ‘dance partner’ in all of this, in Darren, because we’re really close and we have a good shorthand for checking each other is okay.”
He pauses. “And we can walk away at the end of it after all. We can switch off afterwards, but in real life, people who are going through this just can’t.
“It’s a huge responsibility as an actor to take on a storyline like this.”
Even the wedding day was manipulated by Jonathon (Edward Corrie) (Image: Alan Peebles)
Edward says viewers have even stopped him in the street to discuss the events playing out in Shieldinch.
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“I’ve been approached by women, mainly, who say they have had an ex-partner like Jonathon, and they’ve suffered emotional or physical abuse,” he says.
“That’s very humbling to hear. You just want to make sure you’re being as responsible and authentic as possible.”
Edward, who has appeared in a long list of theatre productions, films and TV dramas, including Holby City, Taggart and Shetland, was a choirboy at Paisley Abbey when he was a young child, but at the “grand old age of eight” he knew he wanted to be an actor.
“I loved Indiana Jones, James Bond, Arnold Schwarzenegger – whatever they were doing, I wanted to do it too,” he says, smiling. “I love being a working actor, and I love River City – it’s like a repertory theatre company in a way, and it really is the best job I have ever had.
He adds: “Watching people like Johnny Beattie, Juliet Cadzow, Barbara Rafferty – it’s like getting a masterclass in acting from Scottish stage and screen royalty.”
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Talking of royalty, Edward’s route into showbiz took him to the RSAMD in Glasgow (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) via an English and art history degree at St Andrews University.
“My parents wanted me to get a degree in case I was terrible at acting,” he says, grinning. “So I went to St Andrews and yes, I was there at the same time as Prince William and Kate.”
He adds, hurriedly, anticipating the gazillion questions about to be thrown at him: “I didn’t know them. I was maybe in the same room as them occasionally, and I played a game of rugby against William once.
“But what a time in history that was – to be part of that bubble when it was all happening was quite something.”
Edward lived in London for 15 years, sharing a flat with fellow Shieldinch resident Jenny Hulse, who plays Amber Murdoch. Coming back to Glasgow for River City has been a great “homecoming”, he says.
“I missed Glasgow, it’s a city that never really leaves you even if you leave it,” he says. “I’m feeling at home again in a way I haven’t for years. And I’m looking forward to Christmas with my mum.”
He adds: “I’d love to work on stage in Glasgow at some point – there is such a wealth of writing, directing and acting talent here.”
Meanwhile, Edward is staying tight-lipped about exactly what happens in the explosive episode.
“I can’t say,” he says, almost apologetically. “But I’m hopeful that viewers will think justice has been done in the way the episodes play out….”
River City is on December 25 at 10pm on BBC Scotland, and on Boxing Day on BBC One Scotland at 7pm.