Cute on Corrie!

But Sam's not the only youngster who's been on the Street over the years. After all, where would Weatherfield be without the kids?

Tomorrow, ITV1 is taking a look back at some of them in The Kids From Coronation Street. The line-up even includes Davy Jones of The Monkees, who kicked off his TV career on the show.

Another is Lancashire lad Joe Gilgun, who spent a memorable four years on the Street as tearaway Jamie Armstrong, first seen in 1994 stealing from Bettabuys.

Joe was eight when he made his entrance. And he's got a few words to say about young Sam Aston's fame.

''I was on the train recently, and I saw a girl reading Sam's first interview in a magazine,'' says Joe, now 20. ''The whole thing does affect you, but Sam seems to be clued up. Apparently he's got brothers and sisters who are acting and can support him. I was the only actor in my family. I wasn't given a lot of advice, I had to work it out.

''You couldn't just go into McDonald's and sit down. You'd hear whispers. It wouldn't be nasty. They'd just be trying to guess if it was you - you just couldn't relax.

''This is going to sound dead big-headed, but there used to be girls running after me. It was, 'Sign me arm, love, and say hello to me Mam'. It was never a boob or a bottom - we were too young.

''I don't get that now. It doesn't help that I'm butt-ugly now. I'm a shadow of my former self. I used to be cute with spiky hair, and now I'm just a minging teenager.

''At the time I enjoyed the attention. It's brilliant having loads of girls running after you. But it's also a shock when you realise just how much attention you're getting. Eventually, you start to think: 'I'd rather settle down and be normal.' That will happen for Sam one day, I bet.''

Joe's time messing around with Jack Duckworth's pigeons came to an end when his screen mum, Tracy Brabin (who played Tricia), left to spend more time with her children. So Tricia exited Weatherfield with son Jamie in tow.

''I wasn't bothered,'' says Joe. ''I would have been now, being older. Unbeknown to me as a child, Corrie was my saving grace. Having had four years of money, and not really caring about it, I didn't realise then what I was losing.

''My family were really poor. I had one pair of red jogging pants that I'd wear for playing, church and best. To get this job and be able to buy new pants was brilliant. And I remember telling my granddad. The pride on his face was ace.''

Joe found his way to the soap via a neighbour who worked at Granada, and who suggested he should get involved in the Oldham Theatre Workshop. Soon, he was starring in plays and going for auditions. Then came Corrie.

For Joe, who has Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and dyslexia, many would presume acting would be impossible. ''Surprisingly enough, it doesn't affect scripts,'' he explains. ''People assume it will be this massive problem, but it never has been. I've got an awful memory, and I can't read or write, but you can read me a script once or twice and I've got it.

''ADD is the biggest pain of my life. It's not terrible, I'm not a nutcase but if something is going on in the background I'll get distracted, or I'll clock on to something someone said an hour ago, or I'll just forget what I was talking about.''

Since starring in Corrie, Joe has carried on acting. ''I've done loads of plays and stuff,'' he says. ''It's been 12 years now. I was about 13 when I left. You realise there's something different about your life to other kids. But being a kid you don't think about that all the time. You forget and just want to be normal. That's what happened to me.

''When I left I did get back to normal, but then it was like: 'This is really pants.' Now I'm getting back into TV. Recently I've done an episode of Hollyoaks and one for the new series of Shameless, as well as a film for ITV called Big Dippers, with Jimmy Nesbitt. It's starting to look good.''

Until then, we can catch Joe on The Kids From Coronation Street.

''We had a look round the set and talked about different memories,'' he says. ''I hadn't really worked with any of the other people on the show. never watched it when I was in it, because I was too young to be interested. And I knew what was happening, so it would have been rubbish.

''I don't get any attention at all now. I don't miss it. Eventually you get sick of it, but that's what you're paid to do. People that whinge about it do my head in. That's the field they've gone into, and they get paid an awful lot of money to deal with people stalking them.''

l Joe Gilgun can be seen in The Kids From Coronation Street on ITV1 tomorrow.