Coronation Street’s Rob Mallard reveals his ‘degenerative’ illness diagnosed after brain scans
Coronation Street star Rob Mallard recently opened up about living with a tremor that he’s had since he was 14 years old.
The actor, who plays Daniel Osbourne in the ITV soap, first discussed his essential tremor – which is a nervous system disorder that causes involuntary shaking – back in 2018.
Recently, he appeared on BBC One’s Morning Live to speak with presenters Helen Skelton and Gethin Jones about living with the condition, as well as how it has impacted him growing up.
‘I went to the doctors and did roughly a year testing things – thyroid, brain scans, because they were really unsure what it was. They came back and said I had an essential tremor and there was nothing they could do for me and come back if your symptoms get worse and we can try and control them’, he explained.
‘Because they told me there was nothing I could do about it, I just put it to the back of my mind and tried to forget about it. It wasn’t until I got into my early 20s that it progressed and really got worse that I thought I should really look into this. That was when I really got the full scope of it and realised it could be quite degenerative over time.’
Following his appearance on This Morning back in 2018, where he spoke about the tremor, Rob sadly received comments online about how it looked like he ‘was drunk’ or ‘withdrawing from something’.
He revealed: ‘I had longer hair at the time too and I had a quiff and when I watched it back, all you could see was the hair shaking. Within minutes of me coming off, people on social media were speculating that I was drunk, that I was withdrawing from something, that I had an issue.
‘Then I was in a position where I had been hiding this because I thought it was going to stop me doing work whereas now, because I have not been honest about it, the assumptions are getting even worse so I’ve got to make a choice here and I came back and said what it was. It’s an essential tremor, it’s more common than you think, people think it’s an older-people thing and I just found being honest about it has been the best policy.’
Rob went on to reveal how he often struggles with filming shots of Daniel texting or holding a drink while in the Rovers.
‘That is one of the hardest things to do because they have to hold it for about 10 seconds for people to get a good read of what’s on screen’, he said.
‘I can’t hold my hand still for that long so we have to do tricks like zooming in really close and I’ll rest my hands on something and then they film it that way. Once they even used someone else’s hand. I have a hand double – I’ve made it!
All eyes are on Daniel in Coronation Street right now, as Weatherfield residents start to wonder if he was responsible for attacking abuser Nathan Curtis (Christopher Harper).
Following his return, Bethany (Lucy Fallon) convinced herself that her abuser was responsible for Lauren Bolton’s (Cait Fitton) murder.
However, with no concrete evidence and an alibi that more or less put Nathan in the clear, it has left her frustrated and emotional.
After the Platts concluded something needed to be done to prevent Bethany making herself ill, Nathan was then seen on the floor after being attacked by a hooded figure.
In Victoria Garden, when Ryan (Ryan Prescott) told Bethany how Daniel reacted violently to stalker Justin during Daisy’s (Charlotte Jordan) ordeal, it left her fearing he was possibly responsible for leaving Nathan for dead.