Charlie's angel

If only Rovers barmaid Shelley had paid more attention to boyfriend Charlie Stubbs's hairstyle, she might not be in such a terrible situation - a virtual prisoner in her home, afraid to go out or do anything without his permission.

While other residents of Coronation Street have grown suspicious of his behaviour, Shelley insists that Charlie is still her darling after being beaten into submission through months of psychological bullying and humiliation.

Soap villains come in all shapes and sizes. Charlie doesn't operate like serial killer Richard Hillman. His methods are more subtle, playing mind games to undermine Shelley's confidence and make her totally dependent on him. Her deluded state of mind makes her stand by her man no matter how he treats her.

The haircut was the giveaway, confirms Newcastle-born actor Bill Ward. Charlie's personality changed at the same time as he had his unruly mop of long hair cut into a shorter, smoother style. A character who arrived, toolbox in hand and ready to woo the ladies, turned nasty.

"When I joined the Street, I grew my hair because Charlie was meant to be in his 40s and I was in my mid-30s. I knew longer hair would put a bit of age on me," he explains. "When he started to turn into a slightly nastier piece of work, I had my hair cut. It makes him slightly meaner and sleeker."

Shelley hadn't the sense to pick up the clues. Not that Ward had any idea what lay in store for Charlie when he arrived in Weatherfield 18 months ago. "What tends to happen is the producers see where the character is heading and try not to prejudge where the story is going to go," says the actor.

"They launch a new character and see what happens, how he gets on with various members of the Street. When I auditioned, I thought there was something slightly dark with him and possibly something unpleasant lurking that you don't see at first. It took a while for that to come out."

Being a nice sort of chap himself, Ward had no experience of behaving like Charlie with his mind games and psychological abuse. His research included talking to organisations who help women in Shelley's position.

'They put me in touch with various women who've been on the receiving end of men like him to try to get a bit of reality into the situation," he says.

"I've had quite a few letters, particularly from women saying they've had experience of someone like Charlie. I've not had - fingers crossed and touch wood - too much bad reaction. Most people know it's only acting."

The nature of soaps means he doesn't know exactly where the Charlie/Shelley storyline is heading. "I suspect at some point he's going to get his comeuppance in a spectacular fashion," says Ward.

"The trouble with a troublemaker, which is what this chap is, is that he causes too much trouble and has to go. But he's not reached that point yet. With something like this, it's important that does happen and that people like him don't get away with it."

When he says that he's aware he may be talking himself out of a job because it's difficult to know how Charlie can stay in Weatherfield once the full extent of his mental abuse of Shelley becomes public.

Ward had no qualms about joining such a high profile show as Coronation Street. It's a great job and what any actor wants - regular work, he says. "So much time as an actor is spent out of work and waiting for the telephone to ring. Now I'm filming most days and have been for the last nine months. Doing the job you want to do is tremendous fun."

Perhaps he's enjoying it more because he was a late starter in acting, working in advertising for ten years until he was 30. He'd always wanted to act, having done plays at school, university and on the theatre fringe. "Then I thought, 'it's now or never' and took the plunge. It was important for me to give it a whirl," he says.

"I was enjoying doing advertising but I hadn't really dared to try acting. It's quite a big step to take to plunge yourself into years of unemployment. It's a pretty difficult job to make a living as an actor and I had no idea if I was good enough.

"You can only give these things a try. The way I saw it, if it all went horribly wrong I could go back and work for advertising agencies again. I had that if acting didn't work out. I guess I had an insurance policy in some ways. I didn't leave advertising because I hated it. I left because I wanted to do acting."

During the first three years, he did a lot of unpaid work on the fringe, so the only way he could afford that was to freelance in advertising. That's all behind him now.

He splits his time between filming Coronation Street in Manchester and Brighton on the south coast, where he's lived for the past 15 or so years. He gets home to see his family in Newcastle as often as possible, although he's never appeared on stage in his home city since starting acting.

"I have fond memories of going to the Theatre Royal and the Playhouse," he says. "I auditioned for something at the National theatre a few years ago which was touring to the Theatre Royal, but didn't get it. I'd love to appear there," he says.

Away from acting, he plays clarinet in a jazz band at parties, 21sts and other celebrations. He tries to blend in with his fellow musicians as much as possible. "The aim is just to enjoy the music and have fun with my friends. I don't do it to make a living," he adds.

* Coronation Street: ITV1, Sunday, 8.20pm; Monday, 8.30pm; Wednesday and Friday, 7.30pm.

Published: 11/06/2005