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Coronation Street's Aaron McCusker has disclosed the initial part he tried out for before securing his Ben Driscoll character. It was confirmed during the summer that Weatherfield darling Eva, portrayed by Catherine Tyldesley, would be making a dramatic return as the proprietor of The Rovers Return. Nevertheless, during Monday evening's instalment, Eva wasn't by herself as she was accompanied by boyfriend Ben, portrayed by Aaron, 46, and his meddling mum Maggie, portrayed by Pauline McLynn. Discussing his arrival on the cobbles, Aaron disclosed that he initially tried out for the part of Todd Grimshaw, which is presently portrayed by Gareth Pierce. During a recent press gathering, Aaron confessed this marked his sixth attempt at auditioning for the ITV programme and he was thrilled to have eventually secured a part, reports the Daily Star . The Shameless actor commented regarding securing his Ben character: "I was in a play in Dublin and my agent phoned me saying they wanted to see me for this. "I got very excited as I've auditioned for Coronation Street , this was my sixth time! "Every time it wasn't always for a lead role, I think the last role was for 14 episodes. I auditioned for the part of Todd back in the day!". Aaron continued regarding his response to the other auditions: "My agent would always do that phone call: 'Aw, it didn't go your way, they really really love you but they want to hold out for something bigger.' I was like 'yeah, whatever, I'll believe it when I see it!' "They were true to their word! So when they phoned me with this and I knew it was to be landlord of the Rovers, I thought: 'Well, you can't get much bigger than that!'" Aaron remembered that during the auditions, he was competing against four other actors, whom he often encounters at other auditions. He then joked about his "nemesis" in the acting world being Emmett J Scanlan, as they always seem to audition for the same roles. Aaron jested: "My nemesis is Emmett Scanlan! Me and Emmett are always up for the same things and he always gets them! "But I knew Emmett was working this time and he wasn't on the list [for the role of Ben]!". Coronation Street continues on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8pm on ITV and ITV X.
