Craig’s top soap award

Craig Gazey — Corrie hit

A YOUNG actor who first trod the boards in Oldham has been named best newcomer at the British Soap Awards.

Craig Gazey was one of Coronation Street’s successes on Saturday, taking the newcomer title for his portrayal of Graeme Proctor.

In the soap, Graeme shared a spell in a young offender’s institute with bad boy David Platt (Jack P. Shepherd), after their screen characters smashed up a family kitchen.

It was a far cry from Craig’s last successes in Shakespeare at Stratford with international stars like Patrick Stewart and Harriet Walter in “The Tempest”, “Anthony and Cleopatra” and “Julius Caesar”, in 2006.

Craig (26) joined Oldham Theatre Workshop when he was eight, and later moved to Bryn Heywood’s Oldham Saturday School.

And after leaving Our Lady’s RC School in Royton, Craig went to the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff.

He will be back in his home town at a glittering summer ball at the White Hart, Lydgate, in July, when he will be helping to raise money for the NSPCC.