Corrie’s Daniel Brocklebank opens up about playing a Drug Addict

“I couldn’t escape it. I looked like shit. Every time I looked in a mirror I was reminded of who I was playing” – Daniel Brocklebank on playing heroin addict Billy in Corrie.

From David Platt being raped to Billy’s addiction to Heroin, Corrie has had its fair share of dark storylines over the past year.

Playing a character that is involved in a traumatic storyline can be a very difficult and draining time for an actor. Daniel, who plays Billy, certainly found that during the time his character suffered from an addiction to Heroin and prescription drugs, “it’s physically, mentally and emotionally taxing to keep yourself in that mindset”.

Playing the role

Working on soaps is about as close as an actor will come to a 9 to 5 job in the acting world. They get the time to explore their characters intimately, playing the same role day in day out, so it almost feels as if they are that person.

This is exactly how Brocklebank felt in the time of Billy’s addiction, he says “it was like I had convinced my body that it was having some kind of trauma”.

To get Brocklebank into the mind-set of the character, Corrie brought in several former drug addicts who were able to discuss and share their experiences. This enhanced his performance by giving him an insight into what life was like as an addict.

Away from the cameras he spent time researching the difficulties of drug addiction: “google is like the actors’ best friend because you can find video clips and sound clips so it’s much easier to research a part”.

PHOTO: ITV

Difficulty switching off from the role

Although, Brocklebank did confess that at times he found it difficult to leave Billy on set, “I didn’t switch off from the role until I got on a bloody plane and went on holiday to Thailand”.

For 6 months the viewers and Brocklebank saw Billy through the most challenging time in the characters life. The strain wasn’t only felt by those watching but also Brocklebank and the production team who were tasked with bringing the character’s very real situation to life. As Brocklebank said, “My body couldn’t determine what the brain was imagining”.

PHOTO: ITV

Getting high in a church and Response from viewers

Controversy hit ‘the street’ when Billy took a hit off heroin in a church. “The audiences hated it. It wasn’t a popular storyline at all mainly because of the religious aspects”.

This distressing storyline did however encourage viewers suffering from a similar situation to come forward and seek help, Brocklebank recalls. “I was working at Pride in Durham a few weeks ago and a lady came up to me and told me that she had checked into rehab because of my heroin storyline. That is the biggest compliment I can get.”

At its peak so far in 2018 Corrie has reached 9.4 million in viewing figures, showing they have a knack for getting into people’s living rooms. Brocklebank stated why it is important that they take advantage of this: “these sorts of shows have a huge amount of power in terms of being able to educate, influence and introduce audiences to subjects they wouldn’t necessarily come across.”