Perdita
13-04-2010, 14:38
Sir Ian McKellen has revealed that he wanted his scheming Coronation Street character to appear in EastEnders.
The actor arrived on the cobbles in 2005 as novelist and fraudster Mel Hutchwright, who ended up conning Weatherfield's book club out of hundreds of pounds.
Speaking on This Morning today, McKellen explained that he wanted the scammer to turn up in Walford shortly afterwards, but the idea never went ahead due to the rivalry between the two soaps.
The 70-year-old said: "I loved doing Coronation Street. I couldn't go back as my character because he was such a naughty man that they wouldn't have him in the street.
"My dream was, having played this conman in Coronation Street, that he should turn up about two weeks later in EastEnders. But they wouldn't have it because the soaps don't admit that the others exist.
"You'll notice that on Coronation Street the characters never watch television. They don't know that EastEnders is on."
McKellen's latest TV series The Prisoner - a remake of the 1960s classic - debuts on ITV1 on Saturday.
The actor arrived on the cobbles in 2005 as novelist and fraudster Mel Hutchwright, who ended up conning Weatherfield's book club out of hundreds of pounds.
Speaking on This Morning today, McKellen explained that he wanted the scammer to turn up in Walford shortly afterwards, but the idea never went ahead due to the rivalry between the two soaps.
The 70-year-old said: "I loved doing Coronation Street. I couldn't go back as my character because he was such a naughty man that they wouldn't have him in the street.
"My dream was, having played this conman in Coronation Street, that he should turn up about two weeks later in EastEnders. But they wouldn't have it because the soaps don't admit that the others exist.
"You'll notice that on Coronation Street the characters never watch television. They don't know that EastEnders is on."
McKellen's latest TV series The Prisoner - a remake of the 1960s classic - debuts on ITV1 on Saturday.