Coronation Street star Alan Halsall is known for being confident, funny and likeable off-set.
So it might come as a surprise to hear that the actor didn’t speak to any of his co-stars when he first joined the soap in 1998.
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And not for the reason you might think…
In fact, Alan – now 36 – has admitted he was simply “terrified”.
He made his debut at the tender age of just 16, and has played mechanic Tyrone for 20 years.
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While he’s now part of the furniture, he used to be so shy and intimidated by his co-stars he couldn’t speak to them!
Opening up to What’s On TV, he revealed: “It’s surreal that I’ve been here for so long. It’s such an odd thing. I appreciate that it’s been 20 years, but I also remember my first day like it was yesterday.
“Because I was 16, I was put straight into the adult green room. It was really daunting to see these people who were all legends; I was literally terrified! I’m normally quite loud, but I don’t think I spoke for about a year!”
Those days seem aeons ago now, with Tyrone and Fiz fast becoming the new Jack and Vera.
Alan has become such a famous face, in fact, that he even has imposters pretending to be him online!
He recently tweeted: “[I] really can’t understand it.
“No idea why there’s now several fake accounts of me all in one day?? So weird!!”
This is not me !!!!! 😳😂 https://t.co/Y2k7wJIV5S
— Alan Halsall (@alanhalsall) November 20, 2018
They are !!!! Really can’t understand it ??? 🤷♂️ https://t.co/Y2k7wJIV5S
— Alan Halsall (@alanhalsall) November 20, 2018
No idea why there’s now several fake accounts of me all in one day ?? 🤷♂️
So weird !! ?? their life must be shit if there best option is to imitate ME 😂😂😂🤦♂️— Alan Halsall (@alanhalsall) November 20, 2018
Well they do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!
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