WILL CARLA CHOOSE LUCAS?

Corrie actor Glen Wallace on being Peter’s love rival – and how he nearly ended up playing someone else!

Peter’s love rival Lucas is back in Coronation Street this week, trying his best to get Carla to leave town with him.

Lucas first came to Weatherfield in January as one of Carla’s Underworld clients, but it quickly became clear the pair had grown close while she was living in Devon.

Now he’s returned in a bid to lure Carla away from Peter and back to the West Country. ‘Work leads Lucas back to Manchester but he’s using that as cover,’ explains Glen Wallace, who plays him. ‘Lucas and Carla have chemistry; he sees her as a soulmate. Lucas can see a future with Carla and won’t let her go. It should make Peter and Carla fans nervous...’

Lucas’s ardour is driven by a tragic backstory that saw his previous partner die of an overdose. He’s keen to both grab this opportunity for his own happiness and ensure Carla doesn’t stay in a relationship with a destructive addict. ‘Lucas feels he’s wasted his life being a caring partner to someone who’s addicted,’ says Glen, ‘and he doesn’t want Carla to do the same. She deserves more.’

Lucas’s reappearance coincides with Peter ending up in hospital, seemingly due to his drinking. With Carla furious, Lucas spots his chance. When Peter’s symptoms are found to be due to the effects of liver failure, not boozing, Carla begs his forgiveness for almost giving up on him, but Peter tells her to do what makes her happy. Whether she chooses Peter or Lucas, though, Glen’s not saying. ‘You’ll just have to watch.’

Glen, 44, from County Antrim, is perhaps best known for playing DS Cameron Bryant in EastEnders’ ‘Who killed Lucy?’ storyline. And he reveals he could have been in Corrie 18 months ago as the boyfriend of Vicky, a character played by Kerri Quinn. ‘A mate got the part,’ says Glen. ‘If I wasn’t going to get it, I wanted a friend to!’

Corrie is hugely popular in Northern Ireland, which Glen reckons is due to long-standing Irish character Jim McDonald. ‘Growing up with Charlie Lawson on telly as Jim inspired me, as a working-class Northern Irish lad, to become an actor. I felt if he could do it, I could.’

Glen’s mum Sandra is a big Corrie fan and he says she’s ‘beside herself’ with excitement. ‘She sent me a text that read, “I can die happy now!”’n