Doctor Carter quits Coronation Street

Oliver Mellor, who played Doctor Carter, has quit Coronation Street.

Oliver left Corrie two months ago – because he was fed up of having nothing to do.

The Sunday Mercury exclusively reveals that viewers won’t see him again on screen and there won’t be any explanation for his departure.

Oliver told the Sunday Mercury: “There were quite long periods when I didn’t appear at all, so I realised it was time to leave. They didn’t try to make me stay – they admitted they didn’t have any solid plans for the doctor and it would be more of the same. I thought ‘Fair enough, you’ve been great but it’s time to go’. They just weren’t progressing my character as much as I would like. As an actor you want some kind of consistency and to be busy.  I wasn’t being integrated into the rest of the street. It was great when Matt started dating Tina, but it never came to any real fruition.

“I wanted something to get my teeth into but I was only ever included in other people’s story lines, if there was a pregnancy or someone suffered from depression. I think viewers last saw me stripping off on the Full Monty night, just before the fire. Getting involved in that and the tram crash made a change from sitting behind a desk giving out pills. The producers were very good about being flexible, they let me do an episode of Doctors and Midsomer Murders. But I was getting offers of theatre work and I couldn’t have had three months off Coronation Street to go on tour.

“I realised it was time to move on. I learned a lot in nearly three years and I will really miss the cast, more than the character. It’s a shame Matt doesn’t get an exit story line – they just stopped using him, unfortunately. But they’re not killing him off, so you never know, he could return one day.”

Oliver has been busy since his departure learning lines for the thriller A Murder Has Been Arranged, a tour also starring Anita Harris which goes on a nationwide theatre tour soon. Details here.

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