Coronation Street stars Alan Halsall and Jamie Kenna may be all smiles when the cameras stop rolling but their characters are set for a classic soap fight this week - and it gets pretty dirty. The pair, who play Tyrone Dobbs and Phill Whittaker have been snapped behind the scenes during filming for their upcoming fisticuffs in the ITV soap.
Tyrone has been on his best behaviour when it comes to Phill of late, despite still appearing to hold a torch for former fiancé Fiz Stape. The mechanic broke the Underworld machinist's heart last year when he cheated on her with their lodger Alina Pop and she fell pregnant with his child.
Alina suffered a heartbreaking miscarriage following a fire at their flat started by Fiz's daughter Hope. Then his devastated girlfriend realised he still had feelings for his ex and she left to return to her family in Romania after dropping a final bombshell that she was pregnant again. However, as she headed to the airport, she told him she had made a mistake and that she wasn't pregnant after all.
Meanwhile, Phill has whisked his way in and swept Fiz off her feet, with her recently moving away with her new man and the girls, Hope and Ruby to his posh house. However, things don't appear to be as rosy as they seem and last week, Fiz was left horrified when one of Phill's mates knew who she was as he was the solicitor for the prosecution during her murder trial.
While it was her ex John Stape who was really the one responsible for the horrid crimes, Fiz ended up confining in Tyrone about how she never told Phill about her crazy ex-husband in case he ran a mile. But when Phill eventually found her, he revealed he already know. But there is more going on and during Friday night's trip to the cobbles, Tyrone spotted Phill doing what appeared to be a dodgy deal.
And all hell looks set to break loose for the family this week as not only does Hope, played by Isabella Flanagan in the ITV soap, hop in the driving seat of a mini digger and trashes Phill's car after discovering his secret, but Tyrone and Phill are also set to get into a brawl.
Filmed at a house in Didsbury, pictures show Tyrone and Phill sprawling in wet concrete during renovations at Phill and Fiz's new home away from Weatherfield.
It comes as at the start of the week, Tyrone is still suspicious of Phill and what he is up to. Meanwhile, when Hope borrows Phill’s laptop she is the one who uncovers the truth - that Phill is writing a book about her murderer dad, and in true Hope style takes revenge.
Later in the week, Tyrone calls at Phill’s house to collect Fiz’s things, hoping this now means they’ll be reunited. However, a row ensues and as Tyrone makes a grab for Phill, they lose their balance and fall headlong into the wet cement on the patio.
Speaking about how he found out about the scenes, Jamie told the Manchester Evening News and other press: "We had a private zoom with the producer, which is always worrying when you get a text at two o'clock in the afternoon and I thought, 'Oh God, we're in trouble.'"
But it was actually a very different conversation to what they were expecting. "He just wanted to pre-ask mine and Alan's permission if we were happy because they explained they wanted to do this fight in the concrete and they had the bright idea that after we're in the concrete, I want to go round to Fiz's house and talk to her and we need to get cleaned up.
"So, the best way to do that is for us to just hose each other off, in our pants, in the back garden.." Jamie added with a laugh; "So we had a Zoom call asking us if we're comfortable to be in our pants. We both said yes and I then went on an all-inclusive holiday where I was situated very close to a San Miguel tap and Alan Halsall basically moved into his local gym."
When asked if he enjoys filming Tyrone and Phill's fight scenes, Alan said: "No, not really. When we got the Zoom meeting to say would you mind stripping off to your pants it's like, well, we're actors it's what we're paid to do. I can't say I was excited and looking forward to it.
"It was a freezing cold day in Didsbury. To be wet through in a garden somewhere wasn't a great deal of fun but what we've tried to do in these little moments is to have a lot of fun with it and really put a smile on the audiences' faces."
But things are set to take a further twist. Corrie viewers will watch as Phill scours the wet concrete and he then reveals that he’s lost an engagement ring. Tyrone finds the ring and then back at No.9, Phill pulls out the ring and asks Fiz to marry him. As Tyrone waits in the wings, will Fiz give Phill another chance or have her eyes been opened?
