Chris Coghill has come full circle, returning to the ITV soap where he first began his acting career in the Dales.
Emmerdale’s Kev Townsend actor, Chris Coghill, has revealed that he previously appeared in the ITV soap when he was just 17 years old.
Kev recently made a surprise return to the village, searching for his husband, Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley), whom he met while in prison.
Still serving time for an armed robbery, Kev was granted day release due to a terminal illness so he could visit Robert. Hoping to end their relationship, Robert visited Kev in prison but couldn’t go through with it.
Later, Kev was thrilled to be granted parole and reunited with Robert — who was desperate to keep their marriage hidden from Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller). But will Kev uncover the truth?
Opening up about joining the ITV soap as bad boy Kev, actor Chris Coghill told The Daily Star and other media outlets that he’s loving his new role.
He said: “I’m having a really good time — I’m thoroughly enjoying being here. It’s an absolutely lovely place to work, especially in the village. It’s just stunning, and everyone is so nice.”
Chris went on to reveal that he had actually appeared in Emmerdale before — as a teenager in his very first acting role.
He added: “Weirdly, my first-ever job was on Emmerdale. I was 17 years old — that’s 33 years ago now. I’ve also done Coronation Street and lots of other things. This feels very different from EastEnders.”
Before joining the ITV soap, Chris famously portrayed Tony King, a child abuser, in the long-running BBC soap.
In 2008, Tony was introduced as Bianca Jackson’s (Patsy Palmer) boyfriend, but he was secretly abusing her step-daughter, Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty). The controversial storyline caused Chris to miss out on some roles, but he remains proud that the hard-hitting plot had a real impact on viewers’ lives.
He said: “It was extremely controversial and quite ground-breaking at the time. The reaction was massive.”
“People didn’t even want that storyline on screen,” Chris said. “Some thought it might reach a point where viewers couldn’t separate me from the character, but I didn’t really experience that. Most people would just say, ‘You were really good in EastEnders.’”
He went on to explain how the plot encouraged real-life victims of sexual abuse to speak out. “Afterward, casting directors would tell me, ‘We can’t really have him playing a romantic lead for a while,’” he said.
“But one of the outcomes was that five or six people actually went to prison because viewers recognized their own experiences in that storyline and reported it to the police. As an actor, you don’t usually change people’s lives — but that storyline actually did.”
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