Chris Coghill was thrilled to land the role of a farmer after playing a paedophile on ‘EastEnders’.
The 40-year-old actor stars as the strong, kind and noble Stanley Farrow in new ITV drama ‘Home Fires’ but admits he didn’t work for over two years following his performance as Whitney Dean’s predatory stepfather Tony King in the BBC One soap.
He said: "’EastEnders’ killed my career a bit but to play Tony was such a great acting part because it was so far removed from myself. And playing a farmer in 1939 is also far removed from myself."
Although his ‘EastEnders’ storyline – which saw him groom his girlfriend Bianca Jackson’s adopted daughter Whitney – received hundreds of complaints, Chris claims he’s had people approach him in the street to tell him he helped them come clean about their own abuse.
He told The Sun newspaper: "I got a massive array of people coming up to me and saying, ‘I think you’re brilliant in ‘EastEnders’ and what you’re doing is really important’.
"As a direct result of that storyline, about ten people said, ‘That happened to me’, and went to the police and there have been quite a few convictions.
"Being an actor doesn’t really change people’s lives but without being a w***er that did. And I’m proud of that."
However, despite being proud of his past work, Chris was excited to play a character who isn’t sinister in any way.
He added: "I play wrong ‘uns in everything! When I got the script for this I was like, ‘Oh, he’s really nice, let’s look at the next episode. Oh, he’s still really nice, and the next one – oh, gosh he’s still really nice!’"
Chris Coghill thrilled with new role after playing paedophile
