Ian Bartholomew found it "disturbing and difficult" being mean to his "lovely friend" Shelley King while in character as evil Geoff Metcalfe on 'Coronation Street'.
Shelley King
The soap star tumbled out of the ITV show in dramatic fashion during last night's (09.12.20) 60th anniversary special when Geoff fell off the roof to his death, and Ian has found it "heart-breaking" at times shooting the domestic abuse scenes in which Geoff has coercively controlled his wife Yasmeen Metcalfe (Shelley).
He said: "I have been with most of the audience … I don’t like Geoff either and having to do all that stuff to my lovely friend Shelley every day for the last two years has been quite disturbing and difficult.
"Especially that scene when he made her change into that red dress - it was heart-breaking."
Ian has "enjoyed every minute" of being part of the 'Corrie' cast, but he did have to seek counselling to "offload" on someone while portraying evil Geoff.
Speaking on 'Lorraine', he added: "I had to find a way of disassociating myself from Geoff every day.
"Luckily, I have got a very understanding family but sometimes you need a bit of professional help and I asked the producers if they would supply me with somebody to talk to.
"I had a few sessions just before we went into lockdown and it helped greatly because I could just offload.
"I'd say, 'I'm literally coming in here to dump on you now. Sorry about that. Take that.' He was understanding and very, very helpful. It did me good."
Last month, Ian admitted he was able to speak about what he "hated" about his character and the storyline during his counselling sessions.