Corrie's John Michie: 'I get female attention from playing Karl'

Published Jul 1 2012, 16:53 BST  |  By Tom Eames

Coronation Street actor John Michie has revealed that he has received a lot of female attention since joining the show.

The former Taggart star joined the cast of the ITV1 soap in June 2011 as gambling Rovers landlord Karl Munro.



He said that he is often surprised by how many young women come up to him when he is out with his castmates.

"I was out with some of the boys in the cast a few weeks ago, somewhere I was a little bit too old to be, and I was stunned by the reaction of younger women," he told The Sun.

"I thought to myself, 'I should have joined this show ages ago!' There is a lot of female affection for Karl. Fans want photos and kisses on the cheeks. There was a lot of attention and we caused a bit of a stir.

"I'm a middle-aged man but all these young women came up. It was quite flattering and very surprising."

Michie said that he believes it is Karl's charm and weakness that seems to attract female fans watching the show.

"Karl is quite charming and he's a bit of a lad. Hopefully people dislike what he's done but actually, strangely like him," he said.

"We get loads of fan mail. Because Karl has this young female following, the mail can get a bit steamy. It makes me blush, actually. I'm blushing now.

"Women seem to love him. They think they're the one who could tame him. There is a lot of attention and affection for him from the ladies. People are attracted to dangerous people."



Karl is currently involved in an affair storyline with Sunita Alahan (Shobna Gulati), which he said often earns him friendly abuse from male fans.

"I do get a bit of abuse about the affair but, strangely, just from the guys. It's quite a lot of, 'Oh, you dirty b*****d' and all that but nothing from the women - they think Karl's all right," he said.

"Shobna and I get on well and I really enjoy working with her. We have a laugh and we work well together."

On how his storyline with Sunita will play out, he added: "He's starting to get worried that it's going to come back and bite him.

"He thought he was safe because she was a married woman with kids and it would always be their little secret so now he's panicking a bit."