He was in agony from an abscess and was convinced he would never get the part as he had already been in the show as social worker Don Worthington in the Eighties.

 

Brian Capron, an actor, looking directly at the camera.

Brian Capron almost didn’t audition to be serial killer Richard HillmanCredit: Alamy

Richard (Brian Capron) looking intently at Emily (Eileen Derbyshire) who is asleep on the sofa.

Evil Richard trying to bump off Emily on Christmas Day in 2002Credit: Granada Television
Richard’s two-year reign of terror, from 2001 to 2003, saw him famously murder hairdresser Maxine Peacock with a crowbar.

And the dramatic scene where he confessed his crimes to shocked wife Gail was watched by 19million people.

But Brian says: “I thought it was a waste of time going up for it as I’d played another part before.

“I nearly didn’t go. I had to go all the way to Manchester from Brighton and I had a tooth abscess and I thought, ‘I can’t go, there’s no point’.”

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Even after landing the role, Brian was convinced he was going to be axed after just six months.

‘Quite disturbing’
He says: “There was talk about me and Sally Lindsay [Rovers Return barmaid Shelley Unwin] and a few others ­getting sacked. I think at that point, Richard was slightly cheesy.

“But luckily, the producer got sacked and in came a new producer. They suddenly honed in on my character and I thrived on it.”

In an exclusive interview with The Sun on Sunday to mark the soap’s 65th anniversary, Brian opens up about his time on the cobbles.
He reveals how Corrie legend Bill Tarmey — who played Jack Duckworth — advised him not to waste his time learning lines and to hide them behind a teapot on set instead.

Brian also recalls how fans hated his character so much that he once had a brick hurled at his car and had to stop taking his son to school.

 

He even had doubts about returning last year for actress Helen Worth’s final episode as Gail after 50 years on the soap.

Brian arrived on the cobbles as charming financial advisor Richard in 2001 and, after murdering his first wife Patricia and trying to kill Street legends Audrey Roberts and Emily Bishop, Hillman-mania gripped the nation.

Learning lengthy scripts was gruelling, though. Brian says: “I remember I was at the end of a very tiring week, where I’d had about 32 scenes.

“I was sitting with Jack and Vera, trying to fiddle money out of them.

“I was having a bit of trouble with the lines and Bill Tarmey leaned across to me and said, ‘I used to do all that learning bs. Write it on a bit of paper and just stick it behind the teapot and read it’.

“I said, ‘I can’t do that! I have to learn it’. And he said, ‘No, no, no, I used to think like that!’.

“One of the standout things for me was working with Jack and Vera. I absolutely adored Bill, and Liz Dawn.

Richard Hillman (Brian Capron) driving a car with a terrified Gail Hillman (Helen Worth) in the passenger seat, gagged.
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Richard kidnapping wife Gail and her two kids in 2003Credit: Rex Features

Tracy Shaw as Maxine Peacock looking concerned at Brian Capron as Richard Hillman.
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Moments before the crowbar killer’s attack on Maxine in 2003Credit: Rex
“I remember one day Liz said to me, ‘Ooh Brian, I’m a bit worried, we’ve got a new director’.

“I said, ‘That’s all right, you don’t have to worry, Liz — you’re the Queen of the Street! What’s the problem?’.

“And she said, ‘Well, he might not understand my little ways’. Because she used to have little prompt notes stuck up around the set.”

Brian says there was a lot of humour on set, even in the tense scene where Richard murdered Maxine, played by Tracy Shaw.

He recalls: “Richard hit Maxine with a crowbar, but wanted to make it look like a robbery, so he messed up the house, swept things off a table and stole some objects.

“I came off the set and I was thinking, ‘That was brilliant! I couldn’t have done it better. Everyone’s going to go, Brian, that was fantastic’.

“But everyone was laughing because when I’d cleared the table, a phone had gone up in the air and landed between the cheeks of Tracy’s bottom while she was lying dead on the floor. It was hilarious.”

Even though Brian left Corrie and joined the cast of Where The Heart Is, his past caught up with him.

A woman attacked me with a brolly when I was doing a personal appearance.

Brian Capron
One night, while attending a party with co-star Georgia Moffett, he was attacked.

He says: “The gang went to a party . . .  I was in a cab with Georgia and someone threw a brick at the car and shouted, ‘Hillman!’.

“It was shocking — crazy and quite disturbing. Another time, a woman attacked me with a brolly when I was doing a personal appearance.”

The dad of three, who previously starred as woodwork teacher Mr Hopwood in Grange Hill, adds: “When I was out with my wife, people would push her out of the way and I couldn’t take my son to school.”

Yet sometimes playing a serial killer worked to Brian’s advantage — and after a gang of teenagers stole his briefcase containing all his scripts, he gave chase.

“I jumped in the car and followed them into the middle of an estate,” he says. “I jumped out of my car and there were four of them coming towards me.

“I went, ‘You so and so, so and sos!’ very loudly.

“I don’t know if they thought I was Richard Hillman and that I was going to get a shovel out of the back of my car, but they zipped up their hoodies and ran for it.”

‘­­­­­­Moment in the sun’
His evil character eventually died in 2003 after driving his car into the canal in a bid to kill himself, wife Gail and her kids, Sarah and David.

He reappeared last year, after 21 years away, in a dream sequence in Helen Worth’s final episode as Gail.

But Brian confesses that he had doubts when Street bosses first approached him about returning.

“I was gobsmacked and a bit wary until I read the script,” he admits. “I thought, ‘How on earth can I bring the character back?’.

“It was a vision, which could have been incredibly dodgy. I always think it’s fatal to go back in a soap, like Leslie Grantham did in EastEnders as Dirty Den, so I was very dubious, but it had all the right elements.

“It was quite funny, so it had the humour that was always around the character, but also it was slightly menacing. It was really clever.”

Not that it was an easy day’s filming. In the episode, Gail wakes up to find Richard in her lounge, covered in weeds and soaked to the skin as if he’d just crawled out of the canal.

Brian says: “I had a wetsuit underneath my suit to keep me warm.

“It was quite difficult to move and I had to keep it on all day, because they kept spraying me with water until it was literally running off me.”

Brian, who lives in Hove, East Sussex, with his wife Jacqui, is still acting and his next job is in panto Aladdin in Stockport next month.

But he says he has no regrets that his post-cobbles career has not matched the success of some other former Coronation Street stars.

He explains: “I had my moment in the sun, which most actors don’t.

“When I finish the panto, I’ll be a year and a month away from being 80, so I’ve been lucky. People know of me and I’ve done a load of lovely things.

“My career hasn’t been like Suranne Jones’ and Katherine Kelly’s, but without Corrie, I don’t know if it would have lasted this long.

“Richard Hillman has given me an­other 20 years and a lovely life. I feel in­credibly fortunate.”

FIVE OTHER FIENDS
CORRIE has had more than its fair share of villains over the years. Here’s a look back at a fearsome five . . .

1. PAT PHELAN (Connor McIntyre) 2013-2018. Among the nastiest characters to tread the cobbles, sadistic builder Pat raped Anna Windass, caused Michael Rodwell’s death and murdered Andy Carver and Luke Britton.

2. ALAN BRADLEY (Mark Eden) 1986-1989. Evil Alan met his maker after being hit by a Blackpool tram in one of the show’s most memorable dramas. It came after months of terrorising Rita Fairclough and trying to kill her.

3. DAVID PLATT (Thomas Ormson then Jack P. Shepherd) 1990-present. He’s now known more for his wisecracks, but back in the day David was capable of breathtaking acts of badness, including pushing mum Gail down the stairs, loosening scaffolding bolts to injure Jason Grimshaw and deliberately causing a car crash which left brother Nick in a coma.

4. KIRSTY SOAMES (Natalie Gumede) 2011-2013. Tyrone Dobbs’ vicious ex subjected the shocked mechanic to violent attacks, which included throwing plates at him.

5. TONY GORDON (Gray O’Brien) 2007-2010. Not content with murdering Liam Connor and trying to kill his wife Carla, evil businessman Tony then tried to drown much-loved cafe owner Roy Cropper in the canal. For that, he can never be forgiven.

CRACKS IN THE COBBLES
CORRIE’S residents have given us plenty to chuckle about over the years, with some laugh-out-loud one-liners.

Vera Duckworth and Jack Duckworth from Coronation Street.
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Corrie legends Vera and Jack DuckworthCredit: Rex Features

Ken Barlow (William Roache) telling Blanche Hunt (Maggie Jones) he is not homosexual while Deirdre Barlow (Anne Kirkbride) looks on in the TV show “Coronation Street”.
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Ken Barlow (William Roache) tells Blanche Hunt (Maggies Jones) he is not a homosexual as Deirdre Barlow (Anne Kirkbride) looks onCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
Here’s our pick of the best:

Jack Duckworth: “It’s a lottery is marriage.” Vera Duckworth: “No, you’ve got a chance on the lottery.”

Gail Platt: “You know what I look for in a man?” Nick Tilsley: “Just jumped the fence at Rampton?”

David Platt to mum Gail, when he spots gran Audrey in the street: “Uh-oh, I see dead people.”

Ken Barlow to Blanche Hunt: “Shouldn’t you be knitting under a guillotine or something?”

Eileen Grimshaw: “Tracy Barlow! I mean, even her initials are a killer disease.”

Eddie Yeats to Stan Ogden: “You know Stanley, there’s three types of idle. Idle, flamin’ idle and you!”

Rita Tanner, after the cobbles tram crash: “What is it about me and trams?”

Blanche Hunt to daughter Deirdre and son-in-law Ken: “Good looks are a curse, Deirdre. You and Kenneth should count yourselves lucky.”

Bet Lynch after a row with husband Alec: “You see this smile? It’s not really a smile. It’s the lid on a scream.”

Stan and Hilda Ogden, played by Bernard Yeons and Jean Alexander, embracing each other in a room.
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Stan and Hilda Ogden, played by Bernard Yeons and Jean Alexander

Actress Julie Goodyear as Bet Lynch, in a leopard print coat and multiple gold necklaces, holding a cigarette and a glass of champagne.
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Julie Goodyear as Bet Lynch on Coronation StreetCredit: Alamy
Hilda Ogden to husband Stan: “That’s the trouble with you, you’re too damn suppository. Now get out there and insert yourself.”

Vera Duckworth on husband Jack: “His name’s Duckworth – but we’re thinking of changing it to Pillock!”

Blanche Hunt: “Support groups? In my day you’d stay at home, get drunk and bite on a shoe.”

Jack Duckworth: “You’ve heard of the Bride of Frankenstein? Well, I’m the ­husband of Vera Duckworth.”

Percy Sugden talking about his hobbies: “Did you know I was a twitcher?” Bet Lynch: “I had my suspicions.”

Blanche Hunt to Ken Barlow: “You’re going to have to learn to take pleasure in the misfortunes of others, Ken, or you’re going to have a very miserable old age.”

David Platt to his sister Sarah, who is sitting in front of the TV: “Will you shift? I’m trying to watch the weather. Your backside’s blocking half of Greater Manchester.”

Ena Sharples to Martha Longhurst: “If I had my way, I’d like to go like my mother did.” Martha: “Eeh, that were a beautiful ending.” Ena: “Oh, lovely. She just sat up, broke wind, and died. We having the same again, girls?”

Deirdre Barlow to her mother Blanche Hunt: “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” Blanche: “I’ll see you at home then.”

REG HOLDSWORTH NAKED…AND OTHER CLASSIC FUNNIES
CORRIE is famous for its humour, whether it’s Steve McDonald’s funny faces, Blanche Hunt’s cutting quips or Les Battersby’s hare-brained schemes. Here, are some of the funniest moments.

Samia Longchambon as Maria Connor in ITV’s Coronation Street.
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Samia Longchambon, who plays Maria Connor

A fountain fight during Eva Price’s wedding in Coronation Street.
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Maria and Eva come to blows in a fountainCredit: PA:Press Association
The Street had lined up stunt ­doubles and stunt coordinators for the hilarious wedding day fountain fight between warring Eva Price and Maria Connor in 2017.

But when it came to filming, the two actresses – Catherine Tyldesley and Samia Longchambon – were told they could pretty much do what they wanted.

The decision resulted in some side-splitting mayhem, as the duo grabbed each other by the hair and repeatedly dunked one another under the water.

“It’s normally very coordinated, but because of the nature of the scenes, they were just like, ‘Go for it, guys’,” reveals Catherine, who plays Eva. “So, me and Samia were like, ‘Oh my God!’ and we did.”

Meanwhile Samia was enjoying things so much she turned down the stunt double the show had lined up.

She recalls: “They got me a stunt double, because Eva threw Maria into a stone fountain and they were frightened I might hit my head. But I wanted to do it myself, so the main part of the fight was me and Cath.

“We were literally in there all day. The worst thing was when she grabbed my hair and started dunking my head up and down in the water again and again – for three days after I could smell pond water in my nostrils!”

The fight, which featured Eva in her wedding gown against Maria in shorts, happened as Eva prepared to marry Aidan Connor.

But when Maria turned up intent on wrecking the big day, Eva charged at her and pushed her into the wedding venue’s elaborate stone fountain. The brawl was so wild that Coronation Street had a paramedic on standby.

Samia recalls: “We properly went in and we had a paramedic on set. He said it was good to drink Coke. They were bringing us cans of Coke for sugar to keep us going.”

The cast are not above playing pranks on each other during filming.

One of the show’s funniest ever episodes saw supermarket manager Reg Holdsworth (Ken Morley) seducing Maureen Naylor (Sherrie Hewson) on his water bed in 1993.

Messing around
When Derek Wilton (Peter Baldwin) in the shop below accidentally drilled through the ceiling, he burst the bed, flooding both the flat and his store.

“Neither of us could wear clothes, because it had to look like an authentic seduction scene,” Sherrie recalled.

“Under the duvet I was fine, but Ken had nothing on bar a small towel. As the bed bursts and Reg gets out to check the damage, Derek and Mavis enter the room.

“I scream and as Reg moves out of shot, he drops his towel in my eye-line. That image has stayed with me for ever.”

But not every prank goes down so well and Ben Price and Colson Smith revealed that one of their castmates asked them to stop messing around when the pair burst into fits of laughter during filming.

The actors, who play Nick Tilsley and Craig Tinker, were supposed to be making small talk in the background when Toyah Battersby tied the knot with Imran Habib.

Instead, the pair decided to create their own elaborate narrative about the bistro. Colson laughs: “We got the giggles and someone couldn’t work with us. They asked us to stop and we said no. We were basically talking about the bistro and we got funnier and ­funnier.”

Ben adds: “We were in the back of the shot and we got the worst giggles.”