Coronation Street star Colson Smith has spoken openly about his character Craig Tinker’s tragic death for the first time.

The ITV soap’s latest episode ended with heartbreaking scenes, as Craig passed away in hospital after being brutally attacked by Mick Michaelis.

Corrie‘s dramatic storyline marked the end of an era for Colson, who has grown up on the cobbles after joining the show in 2011.

Here, Colson reflects on his final scenes and how he really felt about Craig being killed off…

How did you feel when you found out that Corrie had decided to write out Craig?

“When I was called in for the chat with [Corrie producer] Kate Brooks, I’d already braced myself for what was about to happen. I have been in that building since I was 12 years old, so I know exactly how it works and that my time was up!

“I knew that Craig had backed himself into a corner that was going to be really hard to get out of, so I fully expected the chat to go that way.”

How was it to then hear that Craig would be killed off?

“After we’d been talking for about 20 minutes, I asked Kate: ‘Do I get killed?’ She stopped and stumbled a little bit, but I said: ‘If it makes it easier for you, the right answer for me is yes! For me to go, I would want Craig to die. I’d want the door to be shut, so I could know in my head that his journey is now over’.

“So in a really weird way, it was the right thing for Craig to be killed. I didn’t want that possibility of ‘We might have you back’ – knowing that it would be very unlikely, and knowing that it would feel a bit like unfinished business.

“Craig dying in the line of duty as a copper, and getting that hero’s death, was by far the most perfect story for his exit. I’ve got everything that I’ve got from Coronation Street and that’s it now, because I know there’s no return for Craig in the future.”

Is it true that you’ve ruled out any flashback or ghost scenes?

“Yeah, I did say I won’t be coming back as a ghost! I was like: ‘The day I leave will be the day that I leave’.”

How was it to film these final episodes?

“I thoroughly enjoyed it. These episodes were directed by Duncan Foster, who has directed so many big stories on Corrie for over 30 years. I think he said I was 40^th person that he’d killed! So you feel instantly like you’re in safe hands.

“I enjoyed filming Monday’s episode, where you saw Craig going through his life and everything was amazing. It was very much: ‘Life is so good, everyone loves me, I love everyone’. That set him up for this downfall.

“It was fun to have scenes with almost everybody on the Street, knowing that it would all lead to Craig and Mick in the precinct at the end of the day.”

How did it go filming Mick’s attack on Craig?

“It was the first time that I worked with Joe [Layton, who plays Mick]. I remember his first day when he walked into the green room. I was there, so I said: ‘Hi, I’m the person that you kill!’ I spent time getting to know him as we were filming the exit.

“Filming the actual stunt was really cool. We actually filmed it across two days because we did it, and then Duncan wanted to change some elements of it.

“The last few weeks at Corrie were perfect and it was a really nice way to go out. I worked with great people and I feel very lucky. I felt very confident in everything that we did and I feel like the story worked.”

Can you tell us about your last day?

“On the night before, I came back to work at about 8pm and it was a really nice evening. It was warm and I just sat outside The Rovers on the street for probably about an hour – I just soaked it all in! It was my way of saying goodbye and thank you to Corrie for everything that it had done for me.

“I also bought everybody a little Lego Craig Tinker, with stickers on saying: ‘PC Tinker will always be there when you need him!’ Me and Ben Price [who plays Nick] were there until about 11pm, putting all of these Lego Craig Tinkers into people’s pigeon holes at work.

“So when I left on Thursday, I had it in my head that all the emotion had gone – the only thing I had to do was do these final scenes and that was it.

“The next day, Andy Whyment pulled into the car park in tears and parked his car skew-whiff! I was like: ‘You can’t leave your car like that! You’re going to have to repark’. He just got out and he said: ‘I’m sorry, my head’s been a mess all night, all day’. I realised there were going to be a lot of emotions that day!

“But I said to everyone: ‘Right, let’s just get on set and let’s do the job’. I tried to keep it like that. Andy was the one who kept saying: ‘No, I don’t like it. I can’t believe what’s happening’.”

As the show films out of chronological order, your last scene was one in Roy’s Rolls, wasn’t it?

“Yes, in the final shot, the camera was on me and David Neilson [who plays Roy]. I told David that I was really nervous and I was borderline shaking – I could feel the atmosphere building in Roy’s Rolls as people were coming in to say goodbye.

“After the scene was done, the next thing I know, people were clapping and the studio was full. Then obviously you get into the speeches and you say goodbye to everyone that’s there.”

How has life been for you since you finished filming?

“I do miss Corrie and I miss going to work there. I’ve accepted that nothing will ever replace that. I can do anything in the rest of my career, the rest of my life, but I’m fully aware that I will never get what I have got from Coronation Street from anywhere else. That’s the thing that I’m going to miss.”

Did you take anything of Craig’s with you?

“My house is literally full of Coronation Street, to the point where I’m going to have to curate what I keep! In my downstairs toilet I have Craig’s police hat. The costume department framed my epaulettes. That’s the main stuff that will stay.

“Then I’ve got my first scene and my last scene. My first scene’s got a gravy stain on it and the front page is all scrumpled up, but my last scene’s obviously pristinely presented from the printer, so I’m going to get them framed as well.”

How has being in Corrie changed your life?

“I started as an 11-year-old and it pretty much is all I remember. I said in my leaving speech that everything I have done and achieved, I’ve done whilst in that building. My best days, my worst days, all my first moments have been whilst being part of Coronation Street.

“That is the thing that I will forever be grateful for. I wouldn’t even say it’s changed my life – I would say it’s been my life. My life is what it is because I played Craig Tinker in Coronation Street.”

What were your highlights of playing Craig?

“I loved the Rovers fire storyline. I must have been about 13. That was the story where Karl led Craig to believe that he set The Rovers on fire. That was my first proper story where I had to do some work. John Michie took me under his wing a little bit. I was in the adult green room at Quay Street and we would run lines together.

“It was the first time an actor had really shown me a bit of care and said: ‘This is how we’re going to do it’. At 13 years old, you remember that stuff so well.

“There’s so many other different things like I remember: Bethany’s grooming storyline, working with Ellie Leach as a kid, Ellie’s exit. When Craig was a kid, he also had this weird pottery friendship with Annie Kirkbride, who played Deirdre Barlow.

“There was a scene once where Hayley Tamaddon’s husband was on the roof of The Rovers and Craig was just eating a loaf of bread watching it unfold.”

We also can’t forget Darryl the rat…

“Iconic! I remember the rat escaping in The Rovers and the health inspector coming in, because that wasn’t meant to happen. It was meant to be another story but someone had gone off ill. So then Darryl the rat escaped and was found in The Rovers next to the panini maker with the health inspector – that all happened in a day.

“The scripts were written and we had to just go and do it and make it up. I remember [former producer] Phil Collinson coming onto the floor basically being like: ‘We can make this work!’ Stuff like that, where you get nothing and you make a bit of Corrie. That’s the stuff that I remember the most.”

Will you stay in touch with people?

“Andy Whyment rang me yesterday to tell me what had gone off at work, who was late and I was like: ‘Bloody hell, it’s like I’m still there!’ So I’ll miss the people, but you do stay in touch.

“The green room is the best place to be as an actor. You spend more time there than you do in your own home, so that’s what I will miss.

“When you’re at Corrie, the entire building is literally a family and you share so much with each other. I will miss that, because that has been my life for so long. You share so much time and so much understanding, so I will miss being that little brother or that son or that grandchild for all the people in the building.”

What are your future ambitions?

“I make no secret that I want to be a presenter – that’s where my love and passion lies at the moment, ever since starting the On The Sofa podcast with Ben and Jack P Shepherd [who plays David].

“I’m also looking forward to playing a character that isn’t Craig. I’m looking forward to getting back into acting and comedy acting and developing something new. After 14 years of the same thing, you do have a taste for something else.

“There are irons in the fire, but I will do the typical showbizzy thing of just teasing. Everyone always thinks there’s nothing going on when you do that, but there actually is!

“I’m excited. I’m going through the process still of winding down from having been somewhere for 14 years, but I’m excited to see what’s next, and hopefully I can find somewhere to go to work and have fun.”