Copyright manchestereveningnews
Coronation Street's Ben Driscoll star auditioned six times as he reveals huge role he went for. Coronation Street's newest arrival Aaron McCusker has revealed he may have been on the cobbles much sooner, having previously auditioned six times for a role in the long-running show. The actor was seen making his Weatherfield debut on Monday night (October 27) as Eva Price returned alongside her partner, Ben Driscoll, and revealed he'd brought her the Rovers Return. It marked Eva's big comeback on the cobbles, seven years after she left for France with her daughter, Susie, following the death of the then-baby's father, Aidan Connor. Also joining the cast is Eva’s daughter Susie (Aurora Bradshaw) and Ben’s two sons Will (Lucas Hodgson-Wale) and Ollie (Raphael Akuwudike), whi is known to Corrie fans as he has been dating Dee Dee Bailey for a couple of months but hasn’t told her about his family’s plans to move to the street. But as for Aaron, who may be best known for playing the role of Jamie Maguire in Channel 4 series Shameless, has now revealed that Corrie was always a show he wanted to be on - and revealed one of the major roles he once auditioned for. "I was doing a play in Dublin and my agent phoned me and said they wanted to see me for this," Aaron told the Manchester Evening News and other press about how the role of Ben came about. "I got very excited because I've auditioned for Coronation Street six times. It wasn't always for a lead role, I think the last was 14 episodes and I auditioned for the part of Todd [Grimshaw] back in the day. "But my agent would always say, 'I didn't go your way. They really, really love you but they want to hold out for something bigger'. And I thought, 'Yeah right, I'll believe it when I see it' and they were true to their word." He continued: "So, when they phoned me with this and I knew it was to be landlord of the Rovers, I knew it couldn't get much bigger than that. So I recorded a tape in Dublin in the flat I was staying in, with an actor who plays Pauline [MyLynn, who has joined as Ben's mother, Maggie] and did it in a Manc accent as he was from Manchester at the time. "Then it was a couple of weeks later that they sais they liked the tape and wanted a screen test. But they told me they wanted to screen test me four weeks before the actual screen test so I had four weeks of getting really excited and thinking, 'What would it be like to actually get this?' because I live in Manchester as well and always wanted to come home." Ben went on to reveal that he was up again four other actors, who he says he wasn't meant to know about but had seen who they were when they all had to sign it at security. But eventually, Aaron was offered the point and it couldn't have been better for the new soap star, particularly for his personal life. "I have a wife and three kids and I've been away doing plays," he explained. "Anytime I was away, I could get home at weekends but the last three jobs were plays so you'd been on stage on a Saturday so I went nine weeks without seeing Jenny and the kids. "My wife has always supported me, no matter what job it is... But she was even getting to the point, because they are 15, 12 and six now, that she was like, 'I really need you home!' So obviously I was chuffed that I was basically going to be in a full-time job but just be able to phone her and say, 'I'm home and I'm staying home'... I'm over the moon. It hasn't really hit me yet, actually." And it's not just his family in Manchester who are happy about Aaron's new role. "It's been amazing but I don't think I'm ready for it [the attention] at all," he said. "My mum and dad love Corrie, they watch Corrie and when they're getting stopped all the time. "Every time I phone, my mum's like, 'Your dad got stopped twice again today!' It's amazing and I'm very, very lucky and I won't forget that," But after seveal past auditions, it appears bagging the role of Ben was worth the wait. "It's everything I thought it would be," Aaron added. "Everyone's lovely, and I'm not just saying that."
