Craig Tinker’s exit from Coronation Street was confirmed last year, with the tragic scenes unfolding this week

Colson Smith took his final bow as the much-loved Craig Tinker in Wednesday night’s episode(Image: ITV)

Corrie’s top producer, Kate Brooks was caught by surprise when cast member Colson Smith, who recently made his dramatic exit as Craig Tinker in last Wednesday’s tearjerker of an episode, put her on the spot during their chat about his character’s departure.

While the news of Craig bowing out from the soap had been out since last year, unveiling a heart-wrenching final storyline for the beloved character this week, Colson chatted with the Mirror about the moment he discovered Craig was to be written off, despite being in the dark about the exact exit details.

Eager to get to the crux of the matter during their meeting, Colson quizzed Kate, directly asking about the nature of his exit. He was keen to find out two specific things, while also offering reassurance about the most fitting send-off for Craig.

The actor’s exit from the cobbles was confirmed last year withthe scenes airing this week(Image: PA)

Colson recalled the interaction, saying: “There had been about 20 minutes of Kate talking to me, but we hadn’t touched on when or how, or who or what. So I kind of stopped Kate and said, ‘Look, I have two questions, and one is when, and two is, do I get killed?’ And she kind of like, stopped and stumbled a little bit.”

Colson Smith has candidly revealed his thoughts on leaving Coronation Street, explaining that when it came to Craig Tinker’s exit, he told producer Kate Oates he wanted no chance of a return.

He reflected: “For me to go, I would want to leave. I would want to die, I would want the door to be shut, so then I can kind of know in my head that Corrie has been this, Corrie has done that, and it is now done, and Craig’s journey is over”, reports Belfast Live.

Embracing the idea of a “heroic” end for Craig, Colson found it to be a fitting farewell both for his character and himself as an actor.

He expressed: “It felt very much like a thank you, goodbye, goodnight type thing, because I know there’s no return for Craig and Colson in the future. I have spoken to people who have left and not been killed and I just feel like, for me, it was 100% the right way to kind of know that I’m not coming back.”

Colson said he wanted his character to be the end so he knew that the door was fully closed(Image: ITV/Coronation Street)

Recalling the demanding shoot for Craig’s intense final scenes with villain Mick Michaelis, Colson shared his excitement: “It was pretty mint to be fair the final block, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was very lucky, because obviously we work with different directors all the time at Corrie, and we worked with Duncan Foster on this block, who has done so many big blocks over like 30 years. I think he said I was like the 40th person that he’s killed. But, you kind of feel instantly in safe hands.

“It was really fun to have all those scenes with different people and then the actual stunt stuff, it was the first time that I worked with Joe [Layton, who plays Mick]. So it was incredibly awkward for Joe, because I remember his first day when he walked into the green room.

“I was there, and I was like, ‘Hi, I’m the person that you kill,’ so I spent time getting to know him as we were filming the exit. But the actual stunt was really cool. We actually filmed it across two days, because we did it, and then Duncan wanted to change some elements of it.

“The last few weeks were mint, they were perfect and it was a really nice way to go out. I worked with great people, and I feel very lucky, and I felt very confident in everything that we did. I feel like the story worked.”