I went to the Coronation Street event Tuesday evening. The Halifax DownEast Streeters brought Steven Arnold who plays Ashley Peacock on “the Street” over to talk and answer questions to an audience of seven hundred people. (And by the way, about a third of the audience were men.)
Steven Arnold is much better looking in person than on the show. Apparently he is an avid boxer, works out. He’s also a very personable, intelligent, lively, playful young man (thirty-three and single—he had a lot of offers from the audience!) with a good sense of humor and propriety. Some of the questions the audience asked him were a bit off color, not appropriate, but he answered them with diplomacy, was very impressive. He refused to give any spoilers, but did so with humor. He also refused to say anything unpleasant about anyone on the show: the cast, the directors, the writers. It is obviously a very good place to work. The cast seem to genuinely like each other and to work well together.
One of the more intelligent questions to him was about the quality of the drama. It seems that over the past couple of years the level of disasters and crime has increased dramatically. The person asked if this was being done to attract a younger audience. He said yes, you have to go with the times. That says a lot about our culture, and not a happy lot.