Comedian Jack Carroll hopes to bring the laughs to Coronation Street as he joins the ITV soap.
The Pride of Britain winner and Britain’s Got Talent finalist, 24, will play Bobby, the son of Carla Barlow’s killer brother Rob Donovan. In the plot Rob, who is in prison for the murder of Tina McIntyre, was unaware he had a son until recently – and hasn’t mentioned it to his sister.
Now Carla, played by Alison King, 50, will get an unexpected Christmas present when Bobby turns up out of the blue having fallen out with his mum. It is soon apparent that Bobby has the gift of the gab and an eye for the ladies. He runs rings around his Aunty Carla and it becomes evident that he plans on staying in Weatherfield.
As he starts filming this week, Jack said: “I’m delighted and honoured to be playing a part in the cultural institution that is Coronation Street. I hope Bobby brings a lot of laughs in the vein of some of the Street’s classic comedy characters.”
Bradford-born Jack shot to fame at 14 in 2013 when he was the runner up on the seventh series of BGT. The year before he won a Teenager of Courage award at Pride of Britain, being handed his prize by Alan Carr, Emma Bunton, Mel C and host Carol Vorderman.
At the time Jack, who was born 11 weeks prematurely and has cerebral palsy, said: “If I can laugh at myself and make people laugh, maybe they will not be scared to talk about disability.” After reaching the BGT final he went on to appear on Saturday Night at the London Palladium, Jason Manford’s Funny Old Week, Live At the Apollo and completing his first national tour.
He also appeared in Ministry of Curious Stuff on CBBC, Sky drama Trollied, BBC soap Doctors and feature film Eaten By Lions.