Coronation Street villain Joe Layton teases double death tragedy as 'no-one is safe'

Joe Layton has revealed there could be more trouble on the wayin Coronation Street as he teased "no-one is safe". The actor, who plays Mick Michaelis, is set to leave the Cobbles amid dramatic scenes for his character.

He has revealed former co-star Colson Smith has forgiven him for killing off his much-loved character PC Craig Tinker in a violent attack with a baseball bat earlier this year. However, other Weatherfield residents could see their lives in danger when Mick runs rampage after a jail break.

Joe is set to see out his time as Mick with a bang and has warned of upset for fans. “No-one on the street is safe,” Joe told the Mirror. “We’ve seen what he’s capable of - he’s already killed Craig and attacked Kit."

Teasing what could happen on the soap, Joe explained: “His plan is to look for his kids and try to escape. We see a different side to him and how much his kids mean to him.

“Serving a life sentence isn’t something he can deal with and he’ll do whatever it takes to get out of the country and take his kids with him.”

Joe's time in Corrie hasn't always been easy due to his bad boy status. “I got a lot of hate online in the form of comments or tweets or direct messages,” Joe recalled.

“I think everybody just thought ‘There’s no room for this guy on the street, we don’t like him, get rid, we wish that you’d never existed as an actor or a person!’ Because Corrie is such a staple in so many people’s day to day and because it’s been on so long, there’s sometimes a fine line separating reality and your character."

The actor explained he was thankful for a distraction when Mick killed off Craig as he prepared to face the brunt of upset soap fans. “I was lucky that my previous job was The Bombing of Pan Am 103.

"That was airing at the same time on BBC. So, the night that Craig was killed I was on ITV at 8-9pm and then 9-10pm I was on BBC playing a really nice American character.”

Revealing exactly what it is like to play the very troubled and horrific character, Joe said he decided to write a journal as Mick. He told us: “I was playing an abusive husband who kills a police officer.

"On paper that’s dreadful and horrible, but my job as an actor is to get to the why and the motivation. You don’t judge the character; you try to understand them and step into their shoes.

“Mick is a really wounded, angry man who has been let down and fallen through the cracks at multiple different times in his life. Sadly there are lots of men out there like that.”

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