Heartbreaking moment Sean Wilson fights back tears as he tells how historical sex claim hell wrecked Corrie comeback
SEAN Wilson fought back tears after being cleared of an unfounded historical sex claim which destroyed his Coronation Street comeback.
Sean, 59, was dramatically axed from the ITV soap in the summer, after agreeing to return as Martin Platt to be part of Gail Platt’s exit storyline.
Now the actor has revealed to The Sun on Sunday how he was told by Coronation Street bosses he was being axed pending a police inquiry into an alleged indecent assault from 1997 — and left in the dark on the details.
Sean told how his life fell apart in just eight minutes, before he was cleared by police ten days ago.
Speaking about the toll the situation took on him, an emotional Sean said: “I’ve tried…I’ve tried for it not to affect me.
“But when I heard that…last week, that it had been no further actioned, there was quite a few hours afterwards where you could feel it just dissipating.
“So clearly…it was there.”
Sean had got the call in February and was excited to agree a four-month, ten-episode contract.
He said: “I jumped at the chance to reprise my role as Martin.
“Helen and I go back a long way and I wanted to be the person that she left with — and I think the viewers did as well.”
But after filming ten scenes in two weeks during July, he got an email from bosses on August 1.
Sean went to the studios immediately and contacted his partner of five years Carol Hammond plus agent Katherine Stonehouse who joined the meeting via a Zoom call.
He explained: “I was so confused. I had no time to prepare.
“It took place ten minutes after I responded to them.
The past few months have taken their toll as I had nothing to go on.
Sean Wilson
“I was suddenly confronted with three executives who said they had received an allegation that I had put my hands up a woman’s skirt.
“They also said police had contacted them and told them they had referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
“I was in bewilderment. They said they had to cut the contract and protect their cast.
“I told them I knew it hadn’t happened and I deserved a chance to convince them. But they said once it had become a police matter they couldn’t do anything.”
Sean was “relieved beyond belief” when on November 21 police said there would be no further action.
During the conversation with The Sun on Sunday, he became visibly upset when he admitted: “The past few months have taken their toll as I had nothing to go on.
“When I got that call that was the first time I cried in four months. I just let out all the pent-up emotions.
“What got me through it was knowing the truth. There were times I’d find myself sitting in the garden just staring out at nothing for a while.
“I would think I’d better get my head together because I didn’t want to sink.
“The entire time I felt submerged in water but I didn’t want to sink into depression.”
ITV declined to comment.
