Coronation Street’s Daniel Brocklebank ‘thrilled’ to be part of soap’s first same-sex marriage
Coronation Street’s Billy and Paul successfully tied the knot in Monday night’s episode (2 October). (ITV)
Coronation Street actor Daniel Brocklebank has revealed his joy at being part of the “beautiful” first successful same-sex marriage to take place on the cobbles.
Brocklebank’s character, gay archdeacon Billy Mayhew, is wed his on-screen fiancé Paul Foreman (Peter Ash) at Weatherfield’s most frequented restaurant, the Viaduct Bistro, in Monday night’s (2 October) episode.
It’s a major landmark for the British soap, as despite having a healthy stream of LGBTQ+ characters throughout its history, the show has never actually seen a queer couple make it down the aisle to say ‘I do’.
There have been several near-marriages for the street’s LGBTQ+ residents, but each one has ended in heartbreak or tragedy before the couples could tie the knot.
Most recently, in 2019, lesbian couple Rana (Bhavna Limbachia) and Kate (Faye Brookes) came close, but their wedding day ended in devastation when the former was caught in a roof collapsing incident and died.
Speaking exclusively to PinkNews, Daniel Brocklebank, 43, said he is “thrilled” to be part of the landmark wedding.
“I’m just generally thrilled to be part of Corrie anyway. It’s such a historic show,” he said.
“So to then be given the opportunity to do something new in it, that’s never really been done before? I mean, obviously, we’ve had a few failed lesbian weddings, but this is the first successful one.
“It was beautiful to be part of. The writing was amazing. We had a lovely time shooting it. We’ll be watching it with everybody else on Monday.”
The marriage between Billy and Paul has been in the works since 2021, but the couple have had to deal with their fair share of heartache in the meantime.
First, they were part of the treacherous love triangle with Todd Grimshaw (Gareth Pierce), whom Billy was at one point set to marry instead of Paul. Then, earlier this year, Paul was diagnosed with terminal Motor Neurone Disease (MND), with the couple currently planning his end of life care.
While many of Coronation Street’s LGBTQ+ characters have met tragic ends, Brocklebank thinks the soap should be applauded for its LGBTQ+ representation over the years.
Addressing why it’s taken so long for Corrie to have a successful same-sex wedding, he joked: “[They were] waiting for two really hot gay characters!”
He added: “I don’t know why it’s never been explored before. I mean, obviously, the show has always been very much a progressive show in terms of the LGBT movement.
“There have been several gay characters, some of which have been long-running, obviously, like Sean and Todd and things that have been in the show for many, many years.
“So I don’t know why it’s taken them this long to pursue it. But I’m very glad that it was us that they chose.”
Coronation Street is on ITV1 every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
