VIDEO AND PICS: Corrie On Camping

Check out this new video of comedian Paddy McGuinness as a camping expert in an upcoming episode of Coronation Street. And scroll down for some behind the scenes pictures and to read what Paddy's got to say about his new role.

He plays a "poor man's Bear Grylls" called Dougie - who takes over when some of the Corrie residents take a break from the cobbles head out to the countryside for a camping holiday.

Poor old Tyrone ends up tearing his hair out after being driven to distraction by know-it-all Dougie. I think we've all known someone like this on the campsite!

(Pictures: Courtesy of ITV)



How did your part in Corrie come about?
I’ve always wanted to do Corrie so when they came to me with the character of Dougie I looked at it and thought ‘I could really do something with that character.’ So I was involved right from the word go really. They kind of wrote it for me, which is really flattering, especially with a show like Coronation Street.
When the scripts came through, it’s the first time I’ve ever got any scripts where I thought to myself, ‘I don’t really have to change anything.’ They were really funny. And I’m lucky that the characters I’m doing it with as well are funny characters; Tyrone, Kirk and Fiz and all these lot. So it’s just been lovely, really nice.

Do you feel you’re missing out because you’re not going on the Cobbles?
No, not really. The scripts are really, really funny. I think Coronation Street has always had a rich vein of comedy running through it, throughout the years. But some of the stuff we’re doing in these six episodes is so outlandish, you probably
wouldn’t be able to get away with it on the street. So, I quite like being out of it, it’s like our own little spin-off.

What kind of character is Dougie? Alpha male?
Yeah, he’s like a poor man’s Bear Grylls. So where Tyrone’s a mechanic and quite hands on, when he comes out to the countryside he’s not got a clue how to build a tent. Dougie comes along and he’s sort of... ‘You should stand back son.’ He’s one of those. And slowly throughout all the episodes, you see a progression where Tyrone just gets more and more worn down by him. By the end, he’s just like a shell, and Dougie just sort of oversees everything. He’s just one of them. It’s been really really good to do and get my teeth into. And I’ve got a daughter in it, which is mad, an actress called Eve who’s really good. So that’s been interesting as well. It’s just been lovely to do. Lovely crew, lovely cast. It’s been a pleasure.

Is Dougie there on holiday?
Dougie goes on camping trips, two or three times a year with his daughter Caitlin. You see the arc of the story where his daughter’s obviously 16 now and she’s getting to the stage where she’s getting a bit sick of going with her dad camping, but he still loves it. He doesn’t want to lose that with her. But then, she meets Craig and a bit of something forms there, which Dougie’s kind of like, ‘what’s going on here?’ type of thing. He doesn’t want to lose his daughter. It’s just lovely, a really nice story to play.

Does Dougie have a showdown with anyone?
Oh yeah, he has a few of them. Well he has the conflict with Tyrone, then he has a conflict with Beth, who’s Craig’s mum, and he has a bit of a to-do with Chesney as well. In fact, he falls out with everyone but on different degrees. There are a few cross words and what have you.

Is he just too much for everyone from the outset?
Yeah, his opening line when they’re pitching a tent, is him just striding in and
saying, ‘stand back everyone.’ They don’t have a clue who he is, he just takes over. And he gets worse and worse and worse, throughout the episodes.

Is Dougie the kind of person you wouldn’t want to spend any time with in real life?
No, I’ve not played him as someone you dislike. I think viewers will like him. It’s just the characters he’s interacting with don’t like him, because of how he takes control of them. Because Tyrone’s a mechanic and he’s hands on, he’s used to fixing things, and all of a sudden he has that taken away from him by Dougie. Also Beth, Fiz and Sinead all quite fancy him. So when he’s building stuff, they’re like, ‘Ooh, Dougie’s quite fit isn’t he?’ And the lads are like, ‘If you like that kind of thing.’ I think the viewers will like him, I don’t think they’ll look at him as one of those characters who they can’t stand. I think they’ll warm to him, but it’s just the characters don’t.


What’s he building?
The usual camping stuff. He does all the tents and does all the barbecues for them. Then he catches the food as well. They’re all getting sausages out and he’s like, ‘Whats’ that? We catch what we eat.’ So he pretty much does everything

Does he know that the girls like him?
No, I don’t think so. He’s not like that. He’s that obsessed with camping and everything else, that’s all he’s interested in.

Could Dougie come to the cobbles?
Well if Caitlin were to follow Craig to the street there is a chance Dougie could pop in for an episode every now and again. That’d suit me, but I couldn’t commit to anything more at the moment.

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