Les Dennis will play a thief in Coronation Street, and is to use a real-life experience for the role.
The comedian claims he felt "violated" after his former North London home was broken into while his family were sleeping, and plans to use it as inspiration for his new role.
He told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "I know what it feels like, that violation when somebody's in your house. These people had come in, found the keys and taken the car. So we'd given the camera and all the stuff in the boot. But that was the least of our worries - it was the idea that someone had been in the house."
Les will appear on the ITV soap on Monday (24.03.14) as Michael Rodwell, who robs the Platt household, before coming face-to-face with Gail (Helen Worth) a few months later in a government-backed restorative scheme, in which criminals are allowed to meet their victims or make amends through remedial work.
However, the 60-year-old actor admits he would have been less than forgiving if given the opportunity to meet his burglars.
He mused: "You find yourself feeling angry. I would have liked to see them face-to-face but I don't know how sympathetic I would have been personally."
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