SEAN Wilson confirmed Coronation Street was “in crisis” amid his shock axing from the show just weeks ago.
The fan-favourite who played Gail Platt’s ex-husband Martin Platt was set to return to the cobbles as part of Helen Worth’s exit storyline.
Corrie execs were bringing the star back for Gail’s final farewell later this year after 50 years in the ITV show.
However, The Sun revealed last week how Sean, 59, was called into a meeting with bosses and axed from filming.
Bosses declined to offer any explanation, merely insisting that Sean has “stepped down for personal reasons”.
Instead, Gail will now have a romance plot with John Thomson’s character, Jesse Chadwick, last seen on the show in 2010.
And all scenes with Sean and Helen Worth, 73, have been scrapped and will be rewritten.
Sean has expressed that he doesn’t believe Coronation Street’s storylines have the same impact they once did.
He’s not surprised that the ITV soap, which used to draw over 20 million viewers, is losing its audience.
The 58-year-old attributes this decline to a shift away from relatable storylines and humor, towards more issue-driven plots like Seb’s murder and Paul’s Motor Neurone Disease (MND) diagnosis.
Sean told the Daily Star: “You could walk down the street on a Wednesday or a Friday and you could hear people laughing with their windows open because of the great writing and the great acting was really speaking to the nation.
“I don’t think it does that so much nowadays. I think the world of soaps is a different vehicle nowadays.
“I think I was part of the British soap industry at the best time, the halcyon years when there was 18 or 21 million people watching it.”
He added: “There’s lots of different reasons. There’s too many channels to choose from which means there’s a lot of choice.
“People don’t have to watch it anymore. They were all segwayed together; you were five minutes from laughing and five minutes from crying.
“Nowadays it seems very much issue-centric, they’re trying to solve the world’s issues, which they’re not going to do.”
Corrie has said goodbye to several cast members this year. Let's break down who's left the famous soap:
Eliza Woodrow (Savannah Kunyo) has said farewell to Corrie to start a new life in Germany.
The youngster moved to live with her dad Dom Everett, who went back on the £10,000 bribe Eliza’s grandfather Stu had offered to keep him out of her life.
Paul Foreman (Peter Ash) will bow out of the soap this summer when he loses his fight with motor neurone disease (MND) in tragic scenes.
After being diagnosed last year, the fan favourite was devastated to learn he only had months left to live.
Viewers know he is planning to take his own life to end his suffering.
Summer Spellman (Harriet Bibby) departed the cobbles after being offered the opportunity of a lifetime to study in America.
Though she struggled to decide with her stepdad Paul’s impending death from MND, she was convinced she had to live her life to the full.
Simon Barlow (Alex Bain) has struggled with the sudden departure of his father Peter from the cobbles.
The Weatherfield legend left his family and loved ones behind on Boxing Day, 2023, when his wife Carla Connor encouraged him to travel around the world with a friend.
Simon’s been on a downward spiral ever since and his exit could end in tragedy.
Alya Nazir is set to leave the cobbles as actress Sair Khan prepares to go on maternity leave ahead of the birth of her first child.
It looks likely she’ll be heading to Dublin after securing a lucrative new job, leaving her colleague and fling Adam Barlow behind.
Show stalwart Sue Cleaver, who plays Eileen Grimshaw, is taking a break to star in the Sister Act The Musical UK tour. She will be back filming in May once her dates on the tour come to an end.
Her character left the Street after her son Jason broke his back after falling off a moped in Asia.
And fans are inclined to agree after they have turned off over a string of grim, miserable storylines.
The ITV soap saw three bosses in as many months, leaving viewers with whiplash as plots twist and turn.
Sources have told how cast members have no clear direction and many are furious over dwindling budgets affecting their pay.
The soap’s downfall began last September when, after many fallow years, rival soap EastEnders swept the board at the National Television Awards, lifting the gongs for best serial drama, serial drama performance and rising star.
Corrie left empty-handed. The Weatherfield soap also failed to pick up ANY nominations at May’s Bafta TV awards.
Sean sensationally quit Coronation Street back in 2005 when he was told by producers how his character was going to seduce an underage girl.
He did make a brief return to the soap in 2018, as part of his son David’s male rape storyline, which was a surprise as he swore when he left that he would act again, “but never with Coronation Street”.
Sean swapped the cobbles of Weatherfield to set up his own cheesemaking business, the Saddleworth Cheese Company.
But he admitted he is always recognised for his role as Corrie Casanova Martin on a weekly basis.
He said: “I think the character is well-remembered and people are generally very nice, very complimentary, and long may that continue.”
Coronation Street airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
