Jimi Mistry had to wear fireproof underwear when his ‘Coronation Street’ character was killed off.
Jimi’s character Kal Nazir was carried out of Carla Connor’s apartment in a body bag in last night’s (28.05.15) episode of the ITV soap after finding himself trapped on the balcony during a blazing inferno and the 42-year-old actor has now revealed he had to take special precautions while filming the tear-jerking scenes.
He said: "It wasn’t pleasant. You look at it and think it might be camera angles and all that – but it was real.
"It was safe but it was real.
"We had a lot of protective clothing – fireproof underwear!"
The emotional scenes saw Kal save the lives of Amy Barlow – whose mother Tracy Barlow unwittingly started the fire – and his girlfriend Leanne Battersby, who accepted his marriage proposal as she was making her way down a ladder from the balcony just seconds before the explosion that saw him killed.
And despite being an experienced actor, Jimi found the stunts challenging and has confessed the look of fear on his face was very real.
He told The Sun newspaper: "You are dealing with the circumstance of being in that situation. It was a new experience for me – I’ve never done anything like that.
"We also filmed on three different locations – the street itself and fireproof sets in a warehouse. I was very close to the fire. It was safe but fire is fire – it’s as real as it could be.
"There was a lot of smoke and real fire so it was claustrophobic but that added to how it all felt on set."
Jimi also admitted that although it was his decision to quit the soap, he was left stunned when producer Stuart Blackburn told him Kal was being killed off and he even shed a tear when he watched the scenes back.
The former ‘EastEnders’ actor added: "I didn’t know at the beginning. It wasn’t something Stuart and I discussed.
"I came into the show to bring some drama and when the idea was pitched to me I thought it was fantastic, dramatic and part of ‘Coronation Street’ history … Yeah, I did cry. It’s hard watching yourself die like that. It’s quite a bad way to die."
Meanwhile, it is yet to be revealed whether Tracy will be found out as Leanne is set to point the finger at Carla while Kal’s son will blame her for his father’s death.
Jimi Mistry wore fireproof underwear on Coronation Street
