Blast From The Past: Tristan Gemmill (aka Corrie’s Robert Preston)
Just a few months on from his shock Corrie death, Tristan Gemmill tells us why his exit was bittersweet…
We all knew that leading a double life was never going to end well for Coronation Street’s Robert Preston, but we never imagined he’d pay the ultimate price for his cheating antics. Yet, on Christmas Day 2019, Robert was gunned down outside the Rovers, clutching the teddy bear he’d bought for his newborn son. While Corrie viewers across the nation gasped in disbelief, actor Tristan Gemmill’s own family had a very emotional reaction to the on-screen drama...
“My kids did end up watching that on Christmas Day, which was possibly not a good move from us as parents!” jokes the star, who is dad to Wilfred, Mabel and Violet. “They didn’t like it at all! My only regret about Robert’s exit was that there was no light at the end of it for him, and he never got to meet his son. But the story gods dictated otherwise!”
Fortunately for Tristan and his family, there was plenty of good cheer to serve as an antidote to the Corrie death drama as he appeared in his first-ever panto. Tristan played Captain Hook in Peter Pan at the Swansea Grand Theatre during the festive season, and said his co-stars had a lot of fun with his Street exit.
“I was back on stage on Boxing Day, and there were jokes about how well I was looking considering what had happened!” laughs Tristan. “I was unsure about doing panto, as it was something new, but I loved it. If you’re going to be in panto, you might as well play the best role, and that’s Captain Hook. I loved the freedom of being on stage and riffing with the audience, as well as the costume. It was as camp as Christmas and I really got into it – what with my eyeliner, beauty spot and panto make-up!”
According to Tristan, hitting the boards as Captain Hook was a new lease of life after playing Robert for so long. But he admits that he’d have preferred Robert’s exit to have been less of a dead end…
“It’s good to stay alive as then the door is open to return,” says Tristan. “But that’s not how the dice rolled. Robert had his fair share of stories – including testicular cancer and addiction. It’s a big responsibility with those issue-based plots. There was a man who was inspired to get a lump checked after watching Robert’s cancer story, he caught the disease early and made a full recovery. That was a highlight of my time at Corrie.”
When Tristan’s out and about, fans still want to talk about Robert’s last scenes. They’re particularly upset he never met his baby boy. “They can’t believe he died and never saw his son,” shares the star. “The fact he was holding that teddy bear when he was shot gets mentioned a lot! It was a heartbreaker.” Tristan is about to star alongside fellow Street alumni Michelle Collins (Stella Price) in a new production of The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter. He’s looking forward to the challenge, and to swapping stories with Michelle. “Michelle and I worked out that we had appeared in the same episode of Casualty,” reveals Tristan. “In acting you usually find that you’re only ever one degree of separation from another actor – there’s always somebody you know in common. Michelle and I are going to have a lot to talk about!”