He admitted things with his character Joel Deering are ‘worse’ than he’d imagined or had been told about when bagging the role

Coronation Street star Calum Lill has surprised fans with what he called a ‘fun fact’ about his life before joining the show. He also admitted that things with his character Joel Deering are ‘worse’ than he’d imagined or had been told about when bagging the role.

Before joining Corrie, Calum could be found flogging cars as he took on different jobs – including a stint at Junkyard Golf Club – in between acting gigs – which included an appearance in 2021 on Hollyoaks in which he played PC Carlton Smith in the Channel 4 soap.

But Calum’s big break actually came shortly after he graduated. “I had one episode on Doctors – it was two days filming and you’d think I’d just been cast as the lead in the new Scorsese epic,” he laughed when speaking to the Manchester Evening News. He went on: “Then I did an episode on Holby City which was fantastic and then lockdown hit… That threw a spanner in the works.”

And Calum was soon creating a link with some former Corrie stars. After eventually getting 12 episodes of Hollyoaks in 2021, he ended up working on a paella stand at festivals, working for Jenny Platt and Rupert Hill.

Calum also moved to Manchester with his then-girlfriend, now fiancee, Roberta Mcclarron and worked alongside acting to save for a house, describing the experience as “tough”.

Now, Calum has discussed his link with Waterloo Road after being asked in a recent Q&A session on Instagram if he watched the school-based BBC drama. “Waterloo Road was my favourite show on TV when I was a kid. All I wanted to do was get an acting job in Waterloo Road when I was growing up.

“And, fun fact for you, Mr Clarkson’s house in Waterloo Road was my house! We were moving house and before new people moved in, they were like, ‘Please can we use this house to film?’ And then they used it for a good few years. I think eventually they recreated the insides in their studios but they carried on using the outsides. But the first season is actually my house!”

And fans were stunned. @millzzz_xox said: “NO WAY THATS SO COOL CAL!” @sophhiec commented: “How did I not know this. That’s amazing Cal.” @longsleevesxo_ wrote: “Wait that’s so cool.” @kerryvincent7972 added: “Awwww, I love this. You are an amazing actor. I love Waterloo Rd, and I’m 52. Go you @calumlill.”

Meanwhile, Calum was also quizzed over how much he knew about his Corrie character Joel when he started Corrie after the character went from a love interest for Dee-Dee Bailey to the groomer of teenage girls, including Lauren Bolton, who he got pregnant before drugging her in a bid to force a miscarriage.

“They told me that it was going to be bad and then the further I got in the auditions they were like, ‘No, he’s going to be really bad,’ and then they were like, ‘He’s going to do this to teenagers…’ So yeah, I knew it was going to be bad but I didn’t know how it was going to end because that kept changing.

“And the drugging Lauren and the baby thing, I didn’t know that. When I found out about that I was like, that’s even worse than I thought it was going to get.”