From Corrie to Vera: The Journey of Charlie Stubbs Star

Longtime Coronation Street fans will remember Charlie Stubbs on the ITV soap from 2003 to 2007. Charlie was an evil builder on the cobbles who psychologically abused his partner Shelley Unwin, played by Sally Lindsay, before he was murdered by Tracy Barlow, played by Kate Ford, in 2007. The famous storyline saw Tracy staging the crime scene so that it seemed she had killed him in self-defence. However, this plan backfired and she was found guilty of murder, but was released in December 2010 on a technicality. Only recently on the cobbles, Tracy was reunited with her criminal ex, Rob Donovan, who had escaped from prison, and it got soap watchers thinking about her previous exes, including Charlie, and soap watchers are intrigued to see what actor Bill Ward has done since the cobbles.

Emmerdale and Beyond

In 2013, Bill, 57, landed the role of James Barton in Emmerdale, which he played from 2013 to 2017. He remained on the soap for four years, but in 2016 announced he'd decided to quit. Consequently, James was dramatically killed off as part of his exit storyline. In 2020, he played Simon in Ricky Gervais' hit Netflix show, After Life. One year later, in 2021, the soap star took on the role of Sean Hardacre in Channel 4's Before We Die and in 2022 he played Peter Henson in Vera. Away from acting, Bill is a keen photographer and has continued to pursue this passion since stepping down from his soap roles. He has hosted photography tours and workshops, in addition to bagging several awards for his work. The actor's Instagram account is filled with stunning photographs often taken in Cornwall, where Bill also hosts his workshops for budding photographers. Despite both of his soap characters being involved in their fair share of conflict over the years, Bill has revealed it is a "family atmosphere" behind the scenes on both Corrie and Emmerdale. "I'm in touch with a number of actors on both shows but I'm also in touch with costume people. It is a family atmosphere on both shows and everyone works together. You're making a lot of television in a very short time. The cast relationships are close but the relationships with the crew are also very close because there's a lot of give and take," he told the ECHO. "They're great fun shows to work on because they're proper ensembles. Sometimes you're making up to 50 pages of television a day so everyone has to really pull together, and I miss that about those shows." Coronation Street continues on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 8pm on ITV and ITV X.