Actor Kevin Kennedy is best known for playing bin man Curly Watts on Coronation Street for 20 years and, despite leaving the cobbles in 2003, has remained a huge favourite with fans. Making his first appearance on the small screen in the summer of 1983, Curly tied the knot with Rovers Return barmaid Raquel, played by Sarah Lancashire. But in his personal life, in the late 1990s, Kevin suffered from alcohol addiction – admitting he was downing a bottle of vodka a day. With the support of the soap’s producers, he eventually sought help and began his recovery.
Here, the 63-year-old father of three opens up about how he’s managed to stay sober for 26 years, and why he dreams of making a return to the Corrie cobbles…
Hi Kevin! After remaining sober for more than two decades, how do you look back on that dark and troubled period of your life?
Back then, I had a kind of madness about me. It was always going to happen at some point in my life. I didn’t become an alcoholic because of fame or the pressures of being in a soap. Alcohol addiction is a mental obsession. Even though I have been sober for years, I still need to look back on those dark times when I was drinking a bottle of vodka a day and working on Corrie . I upset my family and my friends, but I always have to remember where I have come from – purely for the simple reason I don’t ever want to go back there.
We can understand that…
What I do remember was the transformation I went through. How I came back to Corrie a changed man after rehab. I remain very proud of that. I never thought I could do it. I was afraid I would turn back to the bottle. When I finally left Corrie in 2003, I wasn’t sad, I suddenly had the strength to do anything I wanted. I felt healed. The truth is, addiction gets a lot of publicity; yet recovery doesn’t. There is a lot of shame that surrounds recovery – and there shouldn’t be. If you can find the strength to put down that bottle, anything is possible. I only hope people with similar problems to me really believe that… I had faith because from the ashes I rose like a phoenix – and now I have two beautiful daughters who I adore.
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Manchester Evening News)Image:
ITV)
They must be proud of you!
My daughters are very proud of my journey. The funny thing is, when my kids were very young, they believed I knew everyone in the world – simply because everyone stopped in the street to say hello to me.
Your first love was music, and you were even signed by Simon Cowell, going on to record a gold-selling album in 2002. Tell us more about that side of your life…
I was fresh out of rehab and determined to make more of my life. So, I sent Simon a demo under a different name because I didn’t want him to know it was me – as I was still in Coronation Street . But as soon as he saw me, he knew he’d been had – he just laughed. This was well before he was known as ‘God’ and before The X Factor . He loved the song [ Bulldog Nation ] and the single did really well, then I made an album which was awarded a gold disc. Music has always been a huge part of my life – and still is. Simon was the first person to help me realise my dream.
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GRANADA TELEVISION)As a youngster in Manchester, you became pals with guitarist Johnny Marr prior to him forming The Smiths alongside singer Morrissey…
I first met Johnny when we were both plucky 14-year-olds in Manchester. We were two kids from a council estate who were somehow drawn to each other. I remember sitting in his bedroom watching him play guitar. It was a strange feeling because I had this premonition he was going to go on and become someone famous. Then of course he later formed The Smiths with Morrissey – and the rest, as they say, is history.
How did the role of Norman ‘Curly’ Watts come about?
I was a jobbing actor before Coronation Street . But Granada TV kept pestering me to audition so I remember getting the train up from London to Manchester on the Saturday to audition. They told me on the spot I had got the part of Curly Watts, and I started filming the following Monday in the Rovers Return – I couldn’t believe how quickly it all happened. I had to move back home to my mum’s because her house was just around the corner from the studios.
How did you cope with sudden fame and being recognised on the street?
Sadly, I had my own problems by then, with the drinking. But the drink had nothing to do with the pressure of the job – it would have happened anyway. The fame bit was a new experience for me, but we all got through it together – all the cast. It wasn’t just me who was stopped on the street – everyone in the show had the same experience. Coronation Street back then was watched by over 20
million people, so in a way it
bonded us forever. I still speak to Sarah and many others from the cast. It’s a time in my life I
will never forget.
What was your reaction to the recent news that Helen Worth, who has played Gail Platt for 50 years, is to leave the soap?
Helen has been such an amazing staple of Corrie – everyone adores her – and she is such a lovely lady. She was always very helpful to the younger cast members, including me. She would take me to one side and give me advice as to how best to play a scene. She is an angel. Someone you would turn to for help. I adored her. She is a Corrie legend and such a great actress. Now she has decided enough is enough and wants to be with her family. She deserves a rest. I will never forget her.
So, would you go back to Coronation Street if you were asked?
Of course I would. I would jump at the chance. I am still a jobbing actor. I think it would be a very interesting thing to go back. Nostalgia is big at the moment because there is nothing more certain then the past. I think there are many viewers who would want to see Curly come home. I think about it every day.
You are about to return to your first love of music by starring in a new musical called Pretty Vacant – which tells the story of the explosion of punk music. Tell us about it…
I absolutely loved the whole punk music revolution in the 1970s. It changed music and I have so many fond memories of that whole amazing period in history. I think a lot of people of a certain age will love this show. It’s fun, and proves just how important the punk movement was in the UK.
For more information and tickets for Pretty Vacant, see prettyvacantshow.com
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