Charlie Condou 'thrilled with Corrie return'

Charlie Condou has revealed that he is delighted to have returned to Coronation Street, especially as part of a plot that mirrors his real life.

Condou returned to the soap as Marcus Dent. The character has spent three years away but is now helping on-off boyfriend Sean Tully to look after his son Dylan, whom he fathered with Violet Wilson (Jenny Platt).

The actor himself is bringing up daughter Georgia Mae with his boyfriend of four years Cameron Laux, along with the child's mother and long-time friend Catherine Kanter.

On returning to the soap, Condou told the Sunday Mirror: "I think it's a great ­storyline. Obviously I would because of my personal situation, but I also think it's really relevant.

"I feel like I'm on-trend all of a sudden! Elton and David have done it, and Rufus Wainwright and Ricky Martin. It's very ­fashionable to be a gay dad.

"It's a great thing to have on TV, ­especially with a soap like Coronation Street which ­reaches so many people."

He added that storylines such as Dent and Tully's will help make similar situations easier to understand for members of the public.

"It's a unique situation Sean and ­Marcus are in, and I'm in with ­Cameron. Because of that some viewers might be shocked.

"But I think controversial storylines like this are important because, without realising it, people become used to it and it becomes normal, for want of a better word."

Speaking about the decision to father a child, he said: "I was in a lucky place in that my relationship was very stable, I had a nice house and ­financially we were okay. It felt like a good time to do it.

"It took a bit of time for ­Cameron to get his head around it but he knew how much I wanted to do it and he's a great dad."

Condou recently said that his storyline gave out a positive image for gay parenting.