Coronation Street star Calum Lill has spoken about the outcome of the Joel Deering

murder mystery for the first time.

Friday’s special flashback episode brought the whodunit storyline to a head, as viewers

discovered that Lauren Bolton was responsible for striking the killer blow that ended Joel’s life.

This moment marked the end of Calum’s time in the role of evil Joel, as all of the scenes that he filmed before leaving the cast have now aired.

Calum recently caught up with and other press to talk about the big episode.

Did you always know who killed Joel?

“At first, we were all really confused and trying to work out what was going on, because we were getting snippets of this and snippets of that.

“I eventually found out maybe a couple of months before shooting that it was going to be Lauren, but also that there would be so many twists and turns along the way.

“I thought: ‘This is going to be good! If we’re trying to piece it all together, hopefully the audience are going to get the same effect’.”

How did you feel about Lauren being the killer?

“Soap justice is definitely a thing and I think that’s the best justice Joel could have got. He didn’t deliberately try to kill Lauren, but he attacked her viciously and nearly killed her.

“For it to now come full circle and for him to get his comeuppance from the person that he attacked, when she was vulnerable and defenceless, I think it’s what he deserves.”

Did Joel really think he could get away with his crimes by faking his own death?

“I think he did! He’s so blindly arrogant of his own skill and his own ability, that he thinks he’s more intelligent than Lauren, the police and the detectives, so of course he’s going to get away with it.

“He thinks he’s really intelligent and he’s male so he’s better than DS Swain, you know? So of course, in his head, he was going to get away with it.

“In a way, probably his own sheer arrogance was a big part of his downfall. He completely thought that he could treat women however he wanted and he’d have no repercussions.”

Joel’s true nature was hidden from the viewers for a while. Was that fun to play?

“It was! At first, because I had to be under the radar, I had to be as beige as possible for as long as possible! As the relationship developed with Channique [Sterling-Brown], who plays Dee-Dee, we could then find these really genuine moments.

“But once they said ‘cut, scene complete’, we’d look at each other like: ‘She doesn’t know what’s coming, does she?'”

The writers also put forward Joel’s secret wife and child as his big secret…

“Yes, one of the plans was: ‘He can’t be perfect, so let’s put in some sort of bad background and then hopefully that’ll be a red herring’.”

What was it like to film all of the extra flashback scenes?

“I kind of left and came back. I finished in July really, then just came back to film my final episode. It was nice to come back and see everyone.

“But when I came back, it was like we were filming a movie. We spent 12 hours shooting one of the scenes. We had all these different cameras, green screens and special effects. I’ve never experienced anything like that before, so it was incredible.

“There have been so many different aspects of playing Joel. I’ve played him nice, I’ve played him funny, I’ve played him boring, I’ve played him horrific, then I’ve managed to film scenes on location and also on this movie set.

“Where we were filming, it was the Peaky Blinders movie there, House of Guinness, The Talamasca, these big Hollywood films and then us. It was incredible to have gotten that opportunity.”

Corrie used volume wall technology for these scenes, so the railway bridge location was actually indoors in a studio. Can you tell us more about that?

“It was in Gorton in a massive black room. The ceiling was probably about 70 feet high. There was a massive semi-circle of screens and then we were set in the middle. We had this long railway bridge that we’d built and that was on a table that turns.

“So instead of the camera moving, the camera stayed where it was, the train track moved and the whole background was synced with the cameras.

“They went out to the real bridge, took 360 views of the whole place and then wired the camera up so the background scenes could change.”

You’ve often posted your real-life nan’s reaction to key Joel episodes. Will you watch this one with her?

“I think I’ll have to! I get a text still after every episode. She watches all of them. The last one she texted me was: ‘Blinking eck, is Kit in the frame now? You really know how to antagonise people! I’m so glad it’s not real’. She’s so adorable.”

“I replied and said: ‘Oh yeah, I’m behind but thanks for watching’. She said: ‘I watch it every time! You were really bad, that’s a compliment. As always, so proud’.”

How proud are you of your work on Corrie?

“I hadn’t worked for two years before this and I really struggled to find my feet as I started. For about six months, when watching the episodes back, I was beating myself up. I’d watch the episodes with my fiancée and I’d go upstairs and she’d know to leave me for a bit. It took that time to try and get into the character.

“I worked so hard. I know that there’s definitely better actors than me, but I don’t think anybody else could have put in as much work as I did. Because I just said: ‘If I can give this 100% and I leave and I don’t work for years, at least I know that there’s no more I could have done’.

“For that, it was getting up at 5.30am. I’d come into work and would be there for about 15 hours. I’d get home for about 10.30pm at night, I’d eat some food quickly and then I’d do another two hours of learning lines and then do it again. That could go on for about three or four months when I was busy.

“Looking back, I’m finished and I can sleep now! I have more time and I can see my friends. But that’s probably the happiest time I had. It was amazing. I am proud of my work, not necessarily because I think I’m great, but because I’ve not had that opportunity to work that hard before.

“I’m proud of what I did, but also feel so honoured and proud of everyone else involved. There were hundreds of people involved in the making of this storyline. I’ve been put at the front of it and get the compliments in the street, but there’s hundreds of people working on the set – the costume, the make-up, the lighting, everything.

“I’m so grateful to be given the opportunity and I miss it at Corrie so much. I miss the people so much because they’re just the most incredible people. Although I only got 15 months here, it was the best time of my life.”

Do you miss your on-screen partnership with Channique?

“Yeah, I do. But me and my and [my fiancée] Roberta are going over to hers for dinner so I still see her.”

Have you taken anything of Joel’s with you?

“I’ve got loads of his costume. His smart casual stuff is nicer than any of my smart stuff, so I’m absolutely kitted out now!

“I’ve also got the murder weapon at home. It’s like a brick that would have been part of the bridge, so I’ve got the foam soft version. It was not soft enough to be hit as hard as I was getting hit in the face repeatedly by Cait [Fitton, who plays Lauren], but softer than a brick nonetheless!

“Duncan Foster, the director, was saying to Cait: ‘We can tell that you’re being too gentle with him, go on, he’s a big lad!’ I was like: ‘Cait, we’ve worked on this, this is the final episode, we’ve worked together for so long, let’s sell this, this is the last bit, go for it’. She did!

“Luckily the next day of filming was just being dead on the train track, which was good because I needed a lie down! That’s what I did for the next 12 hours.”

What are you up to next?

“I’m doing panto in Bournemouth. I’m playing the baddie in Jack and the Beanstalk. Obviously the baddie in Jack and the Beanstalk is the giant, so there’s a 3D giant and he’s got a normal human sized henchman in lycra and a green top hat, which will be me!

“I was reading the script the other day and my approach for Joel was like: ‘What’s he thinking? What’s he doing?’ I was listening to dark music and rocking in a corner.

“I was trying to do the same for this, but then I was looking at a gag to the audience about magic beans vs baked beans and realised I don’t need to tear myself into pieces in a corner listening to scary music! I think it’s going to be a nice welcome break from attacking teenage girls.

“I’ve got an unbroken streak of playing villains. Maybe one day someone will give me the chance to play someone who’s not a baddie, we’ll see.”