Corrie's Billy Mayhew actor's life off-screen - co-star romance to finding fame
Daniel Brocklebank is a well-known face on our screens, most recently playing the role of Billy Mayhew on Coronation Street since 2014.
He has had quite the career, appearing on multiple popular shows, but for the last nine years he has stuck to the cobbles. He has had his fair share of dramatic storylines on the programme and it seems this won't be changing any time soon.
Billy's life has been turned upside down recently as his partner Paul Foreman, played by Peter Ash, has been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND). Despite the heartbreaking news for the couple, they are determined to get down the aisle, in what will be the first gay wedding on Corrie.
Speaking about the scenes, Daniel told the Metro of what's to come: "It’s the first-ever gay wedding that Corrie has had, I think they’ve had three failed lesbian weddings, and it’s going to be beautiful, that’s what I’ll tell you! As with Corrie, there’s always a good balance of comedy and drama, so you’re definitely going to see a bit of both!"
Away from the soap, Daniel tends to keep his personal life private. Here's a look at his life off-screen:
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Before Coronation Street Daniel made quite a name for himself in the acting world. The star has been acting since 1994 and has starred in various shows over the years including Down To Earth, Born and Bred, Casualty and The Bill.
Daniel played dustman Ivan Jones on Emmerdale from 2005 to 2006. He was only meant to appear in three episodes of the soap, but he was soon made a regular on the show.
Ivan was revealed to be bisexual as he got into a relationship with Paul Lambert, who wanted to keep his sexuality a secret.
Sexuality
Daniel praised his bisexual character on Emmerdale and spoke openly about his sexuality after appearing in Shakespeare In Love in 1998.
He was just 18 at the time and has said he thinks this negatively impacted his acting career. He told the Mirror in 2021: "I pretend for a living, I didn't want to pretend in my private life. When you spend your life on screen, it's important to hold on to the bits that are real. Who I am in my real life should bear no relevance to what I play on screen.
"I remember my management in Los Angeles trying to convince me not to come out because they said it would affect work – and it did. I stopped being screen-tested for the heterosexual male leads and I was either the gay best friend or the character parts. It was more in America than in Britain, but it was still very prevalent."
Despite saying it harmed his career, Daniel has said he has no regrets about his decision to be open about his sexuality.
He added: "One of the reasons I decided to come out publicly was because of the lack of gay role models when I was growing up. I was born in 1979, so I grew up in the 80s during the AIDS epidemic and social attitudes and legalities were very different.
"I came out in the mid-1990s and the difference between then and now is huge. Now it's incredibly fashionable to be gay and I like to think I was in a small way part of that movement to get the ball rolling."
Romance
Daniel tends to keep his personal life private, but it was revealed that he was in a relationship with fellow co-star Rob Mallard, who plays Daniel Osbourne.
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The pair made their red carpet debut together at the British LGBT Awards in 2017. However, it was short lived as the pair were only together for a few months.
Daniel has since gone on to find love with someone else - aspiring musician Jordan Coulthard. Confirming their romance, they shared a photo on Instagram, with Daniel praising Jordan's music.
"Very proud of this one @_coulthard. His latest single is out today!! #GoldenBrown Check it out!” the actor said along with a red heart emoji.
Before his current relationship, Daniel previously dated a ballroom dance teacher named Stuart Hatton in 2019, but their romance ended as the soap actor was so busy with his Corrie commitments.
A source told The Sun at the time of the split: "Dan is really busy with Corrie and Stuart has his business interests in the north east. They just don’t have the time and they sat down and had the talk to end things."
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