Nick Pickard nearly didn't go to his second recall audition for 'Hollyoaks' because he had a plasterer coming to a bar he owns.
Nick Pickard
The 43-year-old star is the longest-serving cast member in the soap's history after appearing as Tony Hutchinson in the show since the first episode in 1995, but he has his mum to thank for convincing him to attend the try-out for the programme.
He said: "When I started, I signed for 23 weeks. I have a pub in London, and I nearly didn't come for my second recall because I had a plasterer coming to the bar.
"It was my mum who actually convinced me to go along to the audition.
"Life could easily have been so different."
While Nick is still enjoying portraying Tony, he feels old at times when some fans say how long they have been watching him on screen.
He said: "I was out at the weekend and someone said to me, 'I've been watching you since I was three.' I was 20 when I started and now I'm 43 so when you hear stuff like that you think, 'God, I'm old.' "
'Coronation Street' actor Bill Roache is in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest-serving male TV star in a continuous role after playing Ken Barlow since the ITV soap's first episode in 1960 - but Nick doesn't expect to break Bill's record during his 'Oaks' tenure'.
He added to Inside Soap magazine: "I never imagined it being this long, so you never know ... 60 years? That's another 40 .. which means I'll be 80. Dear me."
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