Bring on the boos

HAVING worked a little magic on ITV’s top soap Coronation Street as bad boy Tony Stewart, Terence Maynard admits he’s quitting the cobbles to become Sunderland pantomime’s arch-villain Abanazar for a little more family time.

“All of a sudden I’m in the headlines. Tony is about to get involved in lots of twists and turns regarding The Rover’s Return with Liz and that’s where all the oohs and aahs will be centred and there’s going to be a slightly unexpected plotline,” he says.

The bookies are making Maynard’s character favourite to be carted off for Callum’s murder and in spite of my invitation for him to cough once for yes or twice for no, the actor laughs and says: “I can’t give my final scene away.”

He’s filmed his last Weatherfield moments and says it feels bizarre to be discussing Aladdin on Wearside as someone no longer part of Corrie.

“It’s still very fresh at the moment. Up to me being in Coronation Street people would know which film I was in or felt they knew me from somewhere, but going into a soap sorted that out. I started off being called Jason’s dad and then it was Tony and then it was Terence, so the gradual recognition came along,” Maynard says.

As dodgy builder Tony he’s had central stories of cheating on Liz with Tracy Barlow and stealing the Rovers away from the McDonalds.

“When I first started doing Corrie people were coming up to me and saying, ‘You’re going to get a lot of stress on the street because the viewers don’t like villains’. Well, I’ve never had that. People actually say, ‘I like Tony, but what you are doing to Liz is awful’. No one was chastising me. It was more, ‘You’re a bad ‘un... can I get a picture?’ The response was lovely. I’ve had a gorgeous response from the public,” he says.

Maynard’s decision not to sign another TV contract triggered his departure, although he says this was nothing to do with Corrie itself.

“I’ve done two years and I’ve got a young family and signing another two-year contract was going to be quite hard on them. I was asked, ‘Why don’t you move to Manchester?’, but everyone else in my family has their lives and it’s not just mine. It was very difficult, and it was an easier option just to say, ‘I’m not doing two more years’. I’m not being killed off or anything, and I could always go back and the producers think at some stage I might because everything has been so amicable. I’ve had a great chat with Stuart Blackburn (executive producer), who brought me in, and it was appreciated that I didn’t have an easy job when my family was based in London,” he says.

Maynard feels he could return to Corrie for a short period in the future, but is aware that Ryan Thomas, who plays his son Jason, has also announced his departure in the New Year.

“I have no idea what Ryan’s story will be and whether I’ll be brought back for it. I would be up for it if I’m available,” says Maynard, who isn’t keen to switch allegiances to EastEnders.

“It’s like being part of Liverpool FC and I’m not going to go off and be part of Everton. I love Coronation Street. The fondest memory I’m taking away is the people. I told my wife that one of the hardest things is getting used to not seeing the people on the show. It’s hard to think that the party is continuing without you while I’m looking for work elsewhere. It’s part of our industry, but I’ve left every job for 20-odd years like that. You’re always saying goodbye, but acting is like one great big pub and you only seem to be walking around a corner before bumping into the same people again,” he says.

Maynard is looking forward to playing the best baddie in panto, but confesses he got his Equity card playing the Genie in Aladdin at the age of 17.

“When I left drama school I auditioned for panto as a dancer and I changed to being an actor. I went to an open audition as a dancer all those years ago and now I have a chance to be a main character.

“I haven’t seen that many people playing Abanazar and I wouldn’t know what to compare it too. I do have a knowledge of Aladdin and I took the chance with both hands because this is exactly what I wanted to do. As soon as you put on the costume you are inspired by the role and I looked at myself in the mirror and thought, ‘This is a man who thinks he’s the business, wait until he struts on the stage and give it to the audience’. He thinks, ‘I am the man’. He’s going to have so much swagger they are going to hate him.”

Mayard, who appeared in Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise and All Things To All Men, doesn’t mind getting booed.

“I’m going to gearing up a few insults for the Sunderland audience, there may even be a mention of Newcastle United,” he jokes.

Maynard recently appeared on Sky’s Soccer Am and is proud of the fact that he overcame his nerves about taking a penalty in front of the cameras and managed to score.

“That was almost a huge sense of achievement. My son plays football and we kick around in the garden, but that’s all I do. I was in TV’s Dream Team as the manager and I think that resonated with the Sky producers,” he says.

Having given up the commute on the North-West, he’s about to be making a similar journey to the North-East.

“Yeah, but I’m going to be pretty much based up here and my family will all be here for Christmas. My diary is pretty full now, but hopefully next year I’ve got a film which I’m looking at directing. We haven’t got the dates yet, but we’ve got pretty much everything else. Directing is my next step.”

n Aladdin runs at the Sunderland Empire from December 11 to January 3. Box Office: 0844-871-3022 or ATGtickets.com/Sunderland