![\"Daniel](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_Daniel-Brocklebank.jpg\")
Daniel Brocklebank has played Billy Mayhew on Coronation St for 11 years.(Image: Supplied)<\/p>\nMillions 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 upsetDaniel Brocklebank has played Billy Mayhew on Coronation St for 11 years.(Image: Supplied)<\/p>\n
Coronation Street’s vicar Billy Mayhew may be leaving the cobbles<\/a> but the actor who plays him, Daniel Brocklebank, says he hasn’t shed a tear about leaving.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> theatre to join rehearsals for his next role in the cult comedy classic Young Frankenstein.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever finished one job and started another one on the same day,\u201d he laughs. \u201cI walked out of the Coronation Street<\/a> 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\u2019t touch the ground.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m 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\u2019s a lot to get your head around. I will miss Billy.”<\/p>\n READ MORE: ‘Granchester’s DI Geordie Keating is the worst ever TV detective’ says Robson Green<\/a><\/p>\n When you\u2019re playing someone for that long it\u2019s like having two lives. But I\u2019ll miss the people the most \u2013 the camaraderie amongst the cast and crew.\u201d<\/p>\n Daniel\u2019s departure from the show was announced in the summer, but he says he\u2019d been thinking about for 12 months. \u201cI\u2019d spoken to my other half and said \u2018maybe it\u2019s time,\u2019\u201d he recalls. \u201cAs 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\u2019m most proud of, I wondered really what was left for Billy.<\/p>\n \u201cHe 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\u2019t work out what could happen to him that hadn\u2019t already been done.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019d been a drug addict, he\u2019d adopted a child, got married, had the first ever same sex wedding on the show and lost his husband. It\u2019s not like he hadn\u2019t packed it in \u2013 it\u2019s 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<\/a> happening outside of that Weatherfield bubble.\u201d<\/p>\n Then in June, Coronation Street\u2019s producer called Daniel in and told him that they were writing Billy out. He recalls: \u201cThey 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\u2019s no character bigger than the show.<\/p>\n \u201cWe only get a contract for a year at a time and I don\u2019t think anybody in their right mind would expect to be there for life, because I think you\u2019re 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\u2019s the nature of it.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat was really lovely was that when it was announced in the press, I had lots of messages from producers and directors I\u2019d worked with in the past saying, \u2018this is great news, when are you free? I\u2019ve got this coming up and I\u2019ll be thinking of you for that.\u2019 That was nice; I\u2019d not been forgotten by those people.\u201d<\/p>\n 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\u2019s 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<\/a> season.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s fun and eccentric,\u201d he smiles. \u201cMy character puts a brain into a 7ft green monster! The script is a bit naughty \u2013 it\u2019s 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\u2019m not particularly interested in going and chewing on a kangaroo\u2019s b*****ks in the jungle!<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to do something that would terrify me and really stretch me and Young Frankenstein is doing both. It\u2019s been thrilling to meet a lovely company of new faces and part of the appeal is that with Frankenstein I\u2019m 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\u2019m nothing like Billy.\u201d<\/p>\n Exactly how and when Billy leaves Weatherfield is a closely guarded secret, but Daniel says he was delighted with the scripts. \u201cBilly\u2019s departure is fitting for a character that has been front and centre of the show for a lot of his tenure and I\u2019m really pleased with it,\u201d he smiles.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 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 \u2013 you\u2019re saying goodbye to an era of your life. I didn\u2019t shed any tears myself, mainly because I didn\u2019t want the cast of Young Frankenstein to have a first impression of me as a blubbering wreck!\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Daniel](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/9_11_coro_billy_02.jpg\")
Daniel Brocklebank has had some great storylines as Billy Mayhew.<\/p>\n![\"Billy,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/4_09_coro_billy_theo_01.jpg\")
Billy has been threatened by Theo who is jealous of his and Todd’s relationship.<\/p>\n![\"Paul,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_CORO_PAUL_BILLY_DANCE_010JPG.jpg\")
The MND storyline where Billy’s partner Paul dies after struggling with the disease was one of the most challenging. (Image: ITV)<\/p>\n