Ben Price is going to devote himself to "making papier-mache volcanoes" with his kids once he leaves 'Coronation Street'.
Ben Price on This Morning
The 45-year-old actor has made the difficult decision to walk away from his role as Nick Tilsley following seven years on the ITV soap because he was spending too much time apart from his wife Alexandra and their two children, daughter Paloma, 10, and seven-year-old son Max.
Ben has no plans to rush into another acting job and will enjoy doing normal dad stuff with his kids, whom he was only getting to see in person at weekends.
In an interview with 'This Morning', he said: "Yes, I'm going to leave for my family, that's why. It's been amazing, I love the show, I work with amazing people, I've had extraordinary storylines, could not have been any better. But I live 200 miles away, I see my wife and children on a Saturday and I go back on a Sunday ... after seven years. It took me quite a while to think about, it was a big decision, but in the end it's my family and I miss them."
On his immediate plans, Ben added: "I'll be making papier-mache volcanoes and reading stories to my kids and taking them to school and then we'll see. I don't know. I've just got to go home. I lose one family and I gain my family back and I think that's a perfect trade."
His character Nick - who is Gail Platt's eldest son and a role previously portrayed by Warren Jackson and Adam Rickitt prior to Ben joining in 2009 - will be written out of the programme in an explosive storyline in which he is expected to leave Weatherfield after his partner Leanne Battersby [Jane Danson] spills that Steve McDonald [Simon Gregson] is the father of her baby son Oliver, a revelation that is expected to prompt Steve's wife Michelle [Kym Marsh] to ask for a divorce as she can't cope with the truth following the death of her and Steve's premature baby Ruairi McDonald.
Although speculation has been rife about Nick's final plot, Ben claims he's as in the dark as anyone else about the storyline that sees him leave.
He said: "No I don't know and I don't want to know [how it ends]. (Producer) Kate Oates wanted to tell me and I said don't tell me, let's just see how it rolls out. She's been amazing, just fantastic and understood exactly why I had to go. I want them to decide [how I leave], it's their show. Whatever serves the show best. I think it's in a few months-ish, I can't tell you, but not long ... I think Nick wants the perfect family doesn't he? He wants to stand by Leanne, he wants to be that guy. He wants to be the good man - I will look after you. But it's going to come out. I think he's always tried to make it right in the best way he can and it's not maybe going to be right."
Tagged in Jane Danson Simon Gregson Ben Price