COLSON SMITH LEAVES STREET AFTER 14 YEARS

I wanted Craig to die, to know his time in Corrie is done... now I want to be a TV presenter

- BY CHARLOTTE TUTTON Soap Editor

Colson Smith had one final request for Coronation Street bosses when they dropped the bombshell news that he was going to be axed after 14 years.

Called in for a meeting by producer Kate Brooks in October, Colson, 26, insisted that his character PC Craig Tinker had to die.

And last night Craig was killed off in a hero's death after a beating at the hands of Weatherfield baddie Mick Michaelis.

"When I was in the chat with Kate I had already braced myself for what was about to happen," he shares. "I have been in that building since I was 12 years old, so I know exactly how it works."

With the meeting underway, he says: "I kind of stopped Kate and said, 'Look, I have two questions, and one is when, and two is do I get killed?'.

"And she stopped and stumbled a little bit. And I said, 'If it makes it easier for you, the right answer for me is yes'. Like for me to go, I would want to leave.

"I would want to die, I would want the door to be shut, so then I can kind of know in my head that Corrie has been this. Corrie has done that, and it is now done, and Craig's journey is over."

Colson, who landed his job after attending classes run by Northern Film and Drama, adds: "I did say I won't be coming back as a ghost. I was like, the day I leave will be the day that I leave.

"It feels like it is finished, like I have got everything that I have got from Coronation Street and that is it now.

"So it felt very much like a thank you, goodbye, goodnight type thing, because I know there is no return for Craig and Colson in the future."

Alongside a successful podcast with his Corrie Co-stars called On The Sofa, he will now be looking for new work.