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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Jessica Sansome

ITV Corrie's Simon Gregson gives health update amid real-life injury as he talks home being haunted by 'woman dressed in white'

Coronation Street star Simon Gregson has given fans an update on his real-life injury after Steve McDonald appeared on screen last year in a wheelchair. In an episode of the ITV soap aired on November 29, the character returned from a trip to Spain. He got sympathy from his pals in the boozer, with the exception of his wife Tracy, as he explained that he had broken his leg while chasing a mugger.

But the real reason behind it all was that actor Simon, in real-life, broke his leg in six places, and it had to be written into his Corrie scenes. He said at the time: "I've broken my leg. I literally just went over and rolled my ankle, outside the back of the house. It was done in six places."

He added: "I'm able to drive now, but walking across wet fields is a no for me. Because if I slip it's back to square one." Asked by the Mirror if Corrie had to write his broken leg into the script, he said: "Yeah, they've written it in. They just kind of spoke about it. It's like when Bobby Ewing woke up in the shower [in Dallas]. No one cares after about five minutes."

READ MORE: ITV Coronation Street fans shouting at their TVs as they spot major flaw in Carla storyline

And appearing on Good Morning Britain on Thursday (March 16), Simon gave an update on his injury and explained how it will still be months before he is back to full health. "It hurts, all the time. It's driving me mad," he said. "I think it's just a case of just having to wait quite a while until it's fully better."

Host Kate Garraway then asked: "So you're out of plaster, you can move about a little bit, you're obviously sitting down but what a problem for you." To which Simon replied: "I know yeah it's been driving me mad. I can't do the things I usually do but you know, as I said, maybe in a few more months I'll be back to A1 condition."

Simon, however, was actually on the ITV news programme to talk about his haunted house after he invited ghost hunter Barri Ghai, psychic medium Ian Lawman and paranormal researcher Jayne Harris to his home in the hope of ridding it of the 'woman in white' he has seen lurking in his abode.

Speaking about the sighting the soap star, who has played Steve in Corrie for 34 years, said: "Not long after, Emma [his wife] saw a ghost going across the landing. Friday nights are my nights and Saturday nights are Emma's nights. So on Saturday night, Emma had gone out and I rang Emma at about half one in the morning and said, 'Oh have you come home early?'

Because Emma likes to party and I was like half 1, this is early. So I rang her and said, 'Have you just walked across the landing,' and she said, 'No, but did you see the woman in white?' And she said, 'I saw it last night!' I promptly closed the bedroom door and wedged it shut."

Simon spoke about his ghostly sighting on Good Morning Britain (ITV)

The 48-year-old has taken part in Discovery series Celebrity Help! My House Is Haunted, which airs on Friday night (March 17) and previously sharing why, he said recently: "I wanted to know exactly what we’ve got here, so, hopefully, we could put the whole thing to rest and get rid of the ghosts! What appealed to me was that the experts go into the whole history of the house and the local area."

Explaining the back story behind the ghost, he shared: "As soon as the team set up their equipment, they were picking up voices of the spirits. They discovered that in the late 1800s, a woman called Sarah Ann, her baby and her mother, Susanna, had all been murdered near our house by Susanna’s husband and Sarah Ann’s stepfather, William.

"Sarah Ann had given birth out of wedlock and the women were found in their nightdresses, and our house is on the old brickworks where William worked. Ian thought the woman in white was Sarah Ann. It was startling to hear because it’s a horrific story."

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