Coronation Street star Alex Bain quits soap after 15 years

The Blackburn actor, 22, who has played Simon Barlow – the son of Peter and Lucy since he was seven years old, has decided to bow out and try new things.

Throughout his time on the show he has been involved in a number of controversial storylines while on the Cobbles and won the British Soap Award for Best Young Actor in 2011 and scooped up another gong in 2014 at the Inside Soap Awards.

He was recently spotted filming new scenes for an upcoming plot involving a huge car accident with Sam Blakeman played by Jude Riordan.

In real life, the actor became a dad at the age of 17, when his then-girlfriend Levi Selby gave birth to their daughter Lydia-Rose at 16 years old.

Last year he proposed to his ex-girlfriend Mollie Lockwood but in April of this year, it was announced that the couple had split.

His onscreen dad Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne), is also departing the soap after 23 years and will leave in a huge and dramatic storyline in scenes due to air at the end of the year.

A source told the Sun: “Alex is sad to be leaving Coronation Street because it really is like a family — but he realises that the time is right to move on.

“He’s very excited about the future and other opportunities.”

He is set to depart in an explosive storyline in the summer.