Rob Mallard admits it was tough trawling through "hours" of YouTube testimonials to research Coronation Street’s cervical cancer storyline.
The 26-year-old star – who plays Daniel Osbourne in the ITV soap – found it hard to go through the footage after being told that his character’s pregnant partner Sinead Tinker (Katie McGlynn) could be diagnosed with the disease, but admits the plot has been a "nice challenge" to portray and he wanted to be fully prepared.
Speaking to BANG Showbiz, he said: "YouTube is a brilliant resource. We’ve been working with a charity, Mummy’s Star, and in a load of workplaces a lot of people have been through cancer and are not embarrassed to talk about it, thankfully.
"YouTube is brilliant because people just put their experiences up, they just vlog it all out there. You get to go through it.
"So I spent hours going through people’s testimonials. What I wanted to know is the selfish thoughts that people think.
"It’s like using certain muscles that you don’t use all the time. Going in and saying, ‘Another pint please, Liz,’ is very different to doing a storyline like this.
"The reality of it is not nice to go through, but from a professional aspect, it’s a nice challenge to play. And to try to get right.
"Because there are going to be a lot of people who watch this who it’s happened to."
But Rob has revealed Daniel will "regress massively" and turn "dangerous" again when he finds out about Sinead’s secret.
He added: "If she’s threatened he becomes dangerous again. To himself more than to other people. There’s a lot of anger he’s always had.
"What they’ve written with Daniel and Sinead is over the course of their relationship he’s mellowed and become quite soft. But if she’s removed from that he’ll sort of crystallise again.
"I think he’ll start to regress massively."
Amid Sinead’s potential cancer diagnosis, the pair will tie the knot next week, just hours after Daniel pops the question.
Rob Mallard’s tough Coronation Street cervical cancer research
