Bill Tarmey: 'Corrie tram crash was my idea'

Bill Tarmey has admitted that he has the deaths of Coronation Street characters Ashley Peacock and Molly Dobbs on his conscience.

The actor - who quit his role as Jack Duckworth in the ITV1 soap last year - revealed that he had initially suggested that his character be killed off in a tram crash to producer Phil Collinson.

"Phil asked me if there was any particular way I'd like to be written out of the show. I hadn't given it any thought as I wasn't expecting the question," he writes in the paperback version of his autobiography Jack Duckworth and Me, which is being serialised by The Sun.

"I said jokingly that I could come out of Dev's shop and get squished by a derailed tram. I told Phil he could get rid of a few others at the same time in the fatal crash. I thought he realised I wasn't serious."

Recalling the moment he found out that a tram crash was planned for the 50th anniversary plot, he said: "It was while I was preparing for Jack's death that I read to my horror about a tram crash that was going to cause death and destruction in Weatherfield. I'd realised that I'd sown the seeds of a plot in Phil Collinson's mind. Instead of using a tram crash to kill me off, he had decided to take my idea and use it for the deaths of others.



"It's a burden I'll have to take to the grave. I just hope the victims of the tram crash will forgive me for opening my big gob. There must have been cast and colleagues under sentence of death who thought, 'Thanks a lot, Tarmey'."

He quipped: "Luckily, I was out of there before the dead men walking discovered my casual suggestion to Phil had been taken to heart."

The storyline, nominated for the 'Spectacular Scene of the Year' award at the British Soap Awards, saw Ashley Peacock (Steven Arnold) die after an explosion in The Joinery, while Molly Dobbs (Vicky Binns) perished after the derailed tram smashed through Dev and Sunita Alahan's corner shop.

"I was especially embarrassed that Ashley and Molly were selected as victims," Tarmey confessed. "I thought Steve Arnold had built up a likeable character in Ashley and the viewers will miss him. As far as Vicky was concerned, I used to call her 'my little girl'. She was married to Tyrone so that made her part of Jack's family."

It was recently reported that Tarmey needs to undergo urgent heart surgery to have a new pacemaker fitted after he suffered from a series of a series of dizzy spells and fainting.

Bill Tarmey reveals sad Corrie exit secret