ThisisBigBrother.com - UK TV Forums - Corrie

If the dramatic departure of Carla Gordon (Alison King) last week wasn't enough for Tony Gordon (Gray O'Brien), his life is about to become even more complicated when his estranged wife sends a shock from afar to look after her business assets in the form of Luke Strong - a wealthy, ambitious and good looking Mancunian charmer played by Shipwrecked narrator Craig Kelly. Here, we chat to Craig about his character's personality, his back story, how Luke knows Carla and how he arrives on Britain's most famous cobbles.

How did the role in Coronation Street come about?
"It literally started with a phone call from the producers and it went from there. It any other soap had called, I'd have probably said 'no'. Because it was Corrie and the breakdown of the character was so fantastic, I just thought to myself 'why not?!' I met the team and was offered the part. I instinctively knew that this was for me. Even though it's a big step and a change of direction for me, it's still acting and I'm still getting paid for what I love doing. It's all exciting and quite surreal, especially when you walk onto the Street for the first time. I've never played a character that's as similar to me as Luke is, before. I've only really ever played psychotic transsexuals or gay men that are like door mats. They've been very varied character roles and it's rare that such a fun role as Luke comes up."

How would you describe your character?
"Luke is a likeable character who's got ambition and has achieved success through his wit, charm and instinct. He dresses well and likes a laugh and a flirt with the girls, but can handle himself well. He's not a guy who wants to go to war with someone, but if push comes to shove, he'll have it. Really, he just wants to do well in his life. He sees his life as a bit of an adventure. I like to call him a well-rounded entrepreneur who has his thumbs in a lot of different pies."

How do the characters on the Street receive him?
"When Luke turns up on the Street, you can tell immediately that he's different to Tony and the factory girls think he's great. He goes on a charm offensive with them and doesn't play the big boss role. He has a great, infectious energy - so much so that I did say to Kim [Crowther] 'you're not going to turn him into a psycho, are you?' She said 'no', so I was pleased! Sometimes in soap, characters can be too good to be true, so I think it's time for a hero to waltz in and give the bad guy a run for his money."

How does Carla know him?
"Basically, they were mates years ago. Paul Connor was the guy who took Luke under his wing. Luke's history has more than likely seen him in trouble with the police or in prison - that was the wake up call for him and on his release, he resolved to turn his life around. He's kind of a bad boy gone good in a strange way. He got his break through Paul, who taught him so well. Luke became better at the job that Paul, which caused a rift. Carla's not seen Luke for about five to seven years. Despite that, what's intriguing is that she calls on Luke to take on Tony and unsettle him. Luke's a strong character and Tony doesn't like him in the slightest. He can't quite work him out."

How does he turn up in Weatherfield?
"He just walks into the factory and tells Tony that he's been hired by Carla to take over management of her share of the company. Bosh. It's a great entrance and I think it's quite a statement about the character from the off."

Does he have money?
"Yeah, he's done well. He's probably not as loaded as he likes to make out, but he's clever enough to be a bit of a showman and keep his cards close to his chest. He's got life experience, too. He's probably just on the right side of arrogant - he's confident and believes in himself. Centered is probably the word."

What's Tony's reaction?
"Tony hates Luke being there, but realises that he's going to have to get used to it because he knows Luke's the real deal and a match for him. Tony probably starts plotting from the off as to how he could get rid of him. Equally, Luke probably makes out that he trusts Tony more than he does. It's a game of cat and mouse. "

Does Luke have any traits or quirks?
"Not as yet, but that's going to come from me. They started to write for me after the casting, so that's the exciting thing - if I choose to give him some quirks or a tick, the writers will work with that. For me, I'd be keen for my sense of humour to come through and my fun side. I'd love to make him multi-layered. That's the challenge for me. Within my first two weeks, I was given 19 scenes, but by the end of it, I realised that on screen, it'll probably be about seven days of Luke's life. You've got to be patient when you're trying to build a character in soap - it's tiny, tiny steps. I'm in safe hands, though these guys have been doing this for about 305 years, haven't they?"

Does he know all about Tony and his dodgy dealings? He must have the upper hand?
"He does, but in order to create animosity between them both, it's been written in such a way that it's blurry - Tony doesn't know whether Luke knows anything about him or not."

Is he drawn to any of the Weatherfield ladies?
"Of course. I think he quite fancies Michelle from the off and I'm told that there's a possible fling that goes on there. I'm not quite sure how serious, but there'll definitely be something going on. Both Luke and Peter Barlow like Michelle, so there's a bit of rivalry there."

Do you think he had a thing for/with Carla in the past?
"That's interesting. I couldn't tell you, to be honest. He probably did fancy her - after all, she's very attractive! However, he does say in one of the scripts to Tony that nothing ever went on between them. But we don't know - that's the power of soap. So as it stands, he's telling everyone that nothing went on, but we'll just have to wait and see where the story goes."

You worked with Antony Cotton on Queer As Folk, what's it like working with him again?
"I haven't actually done any scenes with him yet, but it's brilliant that he's here."

Some fans are urging producers to cast Charlie Hunnam and Aiden Gillen for a Queer As Folk reunion…
"Are they?! It'd be great if that did happen, but I can't see it happening! I'm not sure where it came from, but there was talk of doing a ten-year Queer As Folk reunion. I really think it's best just leaving it as a beautiful corpse, though. When we did that show, we knew it was going to be really good material - the scripts were fantastic and there was this amazing chemistry between us all. It was just one of those shows that had a bit of magic about it. People still want to talk to me about it and I'm proud of that. That was another reason why I was keen to take this role, too, because it's so different. That and it's nice to play a manly role, because that's what I am, whereas Vince was more of a boy!"

You're well known for your distinctive voice-overs. Will you continue voicing the shows you currently narrate?
"Yeah. All I'll say about that is that I have a few options still available from before I joined Corrie. There are a few things that I'm obliged to do, so you will hear me on a few things, but not anywhere near the amount of pre-Corrie material. Mostly because I'll be too busy!"