KEEP CALM AND CORRIE ON: ‘LOCKDOWN IS EASIER THAN BEING IN THE JUNGLE!'

CORONATION STREET ACTOR ANDY WHYMENT AND HIS WIFE NICHOLA TELL OK!’S OLIVER GRADY HOW THEY’RE SPENDING THEIR TIME IN ISOLATION AND REVEAL WHAT THE CURRENT CRISIS MEANS FOR THE SOAP’S FUTURE

- OLIVER GRADY

Ever since the global pandemic saw production of Coronation Street grind to a halt back in March, the nation has had to cope with just half the number of weekly visits to Weatherfield. And no one is more desperate for the beloved soap to get back in business than one of its longer serving cast members, Andy Whyment, who celebrates 20 years playing the gormless but loveable Kirk Sutherland in December.

“I’m really missing work and the banter we have there,” Andy, 39, tells OK! when we catch up with him and wife Nichola on the phone during lockdown.

“I can’t believe we’ve not been filming for nearly two months, so I really hope we can get back sooner rather than later.”

Still, as anyone who watched Andy finish in second place on the last series of I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! can attest, the happy-go-lucky family man (he is dad to Thomas, 11, and Hollie, nine) isn’t someone who sits around moaning.

In fact, it’s testament to his no-frills nature that one of his biggest frustrations during quarantine wasn’t having to cancel a Caribbean cruise, but missing out on regular trips to his favourite curry house.

As he and Nichola, 35, fill us in on how the family are getting on, Andy reveals why lockdown is nothing compared to his stint in the Australian bush. He also says Corrie will look very different when filming resumes and shares why he’s relieved the pandemic happened now and not next year...

Hi guys, how is life treating you while you’re all stuck at home together?