Actor Calum Lill has officially bowed out of the ITV soap – 10 weeks after filming his final scenes as solicitor Joel

Coronation Street star Calum Lill has finally been able to talk about his exit from the show – 10 weeks after filming his final scenes as Joel Deering.

Weatherfield’s biggest-ever whodunnit was seen coming to a dramatic end during Friday night’s (November 15) edition of the ITV soap as Joel Deering’s killer was revealed – and it was a joint effort to off the dastardly solicitor. As fans know, Joel arrived onto the cobbles in September 2023 as a charming solicitor who Dee-Dee Bailey soon fell head over heels in love with.

But under his smooth exterior Joel was hiding a dark secret – a penchant for younger, underprivileged girls. And when Lauren Bolton went missing in February of this year, it was later revealed that Joel was responsible, having abused his position as her duty solicitor, to subject her to a torrent of both physical and verbal abuse which led to her fleeing the street fearing for her life.

Joel had left Lauren for dead following a vicious attack and while Roy Cropper was accused of the crime, Joel did everything possible to cover his tracks. It was Joel’s fiancée Dee-Dee who finally uncovered the horrific truth, however, without hard evidence the police were forced to let him walk free.

Having drugged Lauren in an attempt to abort his own son, Joel became public enemy number one and as Dee-Dee, Lauren and DS Lisa Swain all rallied to bring him down it was no surprise when Joel disappeared. But when his body was found following an apparent suicide, the police soon discovered that someone had in fact murdered Joel.

It was confirmed he’d been killed with a heavy weapon before entering the water and several Weatherfield residents were put in the frame – Dee-Dee, her father Ed, her uncle Ronnie, Mason Radcliffe, Lisa, Carla Connor, DC Kit Green and finally Max Turner and Lauren Bolton.

There were shocking scenes during Wednesday night’s (November 13) edition of the ITV soap as Max Turner confessed to killing the solicitor – after Carla Connor reported him and Lauren to the police after seeing them the night Joel died – before flashbacks showing the moment the teen confronted Joel on a railway track.

But as the week came to an end the murderer was revealed in a stunning episode which featured a series of flashbacks from the night of Joel’s murder, interspersed with DC Kit Green’s police interviews, bringing what really happened on September 27th.

It was an eventful night for Joel, after Ronnie and Ed Bailey went after him with a crowbar, he was attacked by scorned ex Dee-Dee, threatened by Kit and pushed into the river by Max. But not before Lauren had delivered the killer blow amidst the train track confrontation.

Speaking about the filming of Joel’s final scenes, Calum revealed to us: “I kind of left and came back. I finished in July really, then just came back to film my final episode and it was nice to come back and see everyone. But when I came back, it was like we were filming a movie. One of the scenes, we spent 12 hours shooting. We had all these different cameras and green screens and special effects. I’ve never experienced anything like that before so it was incredible.

“On the range of playing the different aspects of his character, 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 do the soap stuff on location and also on this movie set. Where we were filming, it was Peaky Blinders movie, House of Guinness, Talamasca, these big Hollywood films and then us. It was incredible to have gotten that opportunity so yeah it was amazing.”

But as he waved goodbye to the cobbles, Calum is looking back with pride. “I hadn’t worked for two years before this and I really struggled to find my feet as I started,” the former Hollyoaks star explained. “For about six months, 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 because I was beating myself up. 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 up at 5.30am, I’d come into work and would be in work 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 for about three or four months when I was busy.

“Looking back, I’m finished and I can sleep now and I have 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.”

He added: “I’m proud of what I did but also feel so honoured and proud of everyone else involved. There’s hundreds of people involved in the making of this storyline. Just being able to be put as the spearhead of it, put at the front and get the compliments, there’s hundreds of people working on the set, the costume, the make-up, the lighting, everything. I’m the one who gets the credit in the street.

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