ITV Coronation Street’s Colson Smith had heartbreaking storyline axed

Colson Smith has played police officer Craig Tinker on ITV soap Coronation Street for several years, and he has now opened up about a storyline that was axed

Coronation Street’s Colson Smith has disclosed that a poignant storyline involving his character was scrapped.

The ITV soap is renowned for its compelling and hard-hitting narratives, but Colson, who portrays Craig Tinker, has revealed that a plot revolving around his character’s weight and subsequent weight loss was abandoned due to the pandemic.

Colson joined the cast of the soap several years ago as police officer Craig Tinker. He played a significant role in the ‘who killed Joel’ storyline, assisting Kit in identifying Joel’s killer, who was later unveiled as Lauren.

In a TikTok video, Colson shared his reasons for losing weight and his journey towards achieving it. He has impressively shed 10 stone and has candidly spoken about how his life transformed and the struggles he faced, reports Lancs Live.

**Colson Smith plays PC Craig Tinker on the soap** (Image: ITV)

“I had to lose weight. I was on dodgy grounds. I didn’t realise how big I was, and I don’t think you do. But I was like 24 stone before the] COVID pandemic. I was so unhealthy. I had this relationship with food where I would do this restrictive eating cycle. I would eat loads of food and hate myself for it, so I would then punish myself by not eating,” he confided to his followers.

“Then I would get so hungry and emotional about how I hadn’t eaten that I would then go and binge again. I would go on like that for the best part of a year. I kind of had a thought that there might be a way we could play a story with Craig where he had an eating disorder with his OCD. Obviously, slightly close to home, but I thought it would make for a really good story.”

**Colson has been on the show for years** (Image: TV Grab)

He went on to disclose that he took the idea to Coronation Street’s producers, who showed enthusiasm for the concept.

“I think it’s important that stuff like that is told on TV. So I went to see the bosses at Corrie and asked: ‘Could we play this story if I could lose the weight? And I’m telling you now, I could do it because I’m going to do it anyway.’ We were all for it but COVID happened, which kiboshed the story,” he revealed.

Colson also expressed that while the cancellation of the storyline could have been a “perfect excuse to stop everything that he had planned,” he instead maintained focus on his health and weight loss journey, reporting significant progress as a result.

*Coronation Street airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.