I was so glad to be cast as an undertaker I just don't have the legs for hotpants these days

LANDING the role of undertaker George Shuttleworth came as a huge relief to Coronation Street star Tony Maudsley - not least because it meant he could ditch the hotpants.

- BY SUE CRAWFORD

After playing camp hairdresser Kenneth Du Beke in Benidorm for seven years, Tony was worried he might be typecast.

So when he got the call he was happy to be given the chance to move on from tight T-shirts and thigh exposure.

Tony says: "Because I was so well known as [Kenneth] I thought nobody was going to employ me again apart from playing that kind of character.

"As much as I loved Benidorm and playing Kenneth, it was time for a change. Besides, I was 57 and my knees were starting to get saggy.

"I didn't have the legs for the hotpants any more, so I needed to go back into long trousers!"

As a lifelong fan of Corrie Tony was thrilled - but nothing matched the excitement of his parents Ann and Billy.

During an illustrious career Tony has worked alongside Hollywood stars including Johnny Depp and Reese Witherspoon and even appeared in a Harry Potter film.

But he says of his mum and dad: "They are a lot more interested that I'm in Coronation Street than anything else I've been in.

"For them it's the highlight of my career. They're not interested in Johnny Depp. If Johnny Depp's not in Corrie they're not arsed. If you ask my mum who Reese Witherspoon is she'll go: 'I don't bloody know!"

In 2004 Tony appeared with Reese in the award-winning film Vanity Fair.

The actor proudly took his parents to the cinema the day it was released.

But their reaction wasn't quite what he was expecting. He recalls: "I was so excited waiting for my first bit to come on screen. I turned round to tell them and they were both fast asleep! It was wasted on them."

Tony, 57, grew up in Knowsley, Merseyside. Ann was a football pools clerk and Billy worked as a welder and then in pest control.