Ex-Corrie star Charles Dale elected town councillor in Wales where he runs music shop

Former Coronation Street and Casualty star Charles Dale is hoping to 'fix' his home town after being voted town councillor in the recent elections.

The 59-year-old soap star — who played Les Battersby's friend Dennis Stringer in Corrie and porter Big Mac in the hospital drama — is taking on his most worthy role as an Independent local councillor in Tenby, West Wales.

Dale, who also runs a music shop in the town, told Wales Online: "I look at things and sometimes I think 'that needs fixing'.

Read more: EastEnders Adam Woodyatt working on burger stall while on break from the soap

"And I don't know if I can, but I can certainly go in and say, can we fix this? How do we fix this? You know, just strange things, toilets, parking, you know, rubbish. Those little things."

Dale played Eileen Grimshaw's partner Dennis Stringer in Corrie between 2000 and 2002 before his character died in a car accident.

He starred as porter-turned-healthcare-assistant Mackenzie 'Big Mac' Chalker in Casualty for nine years between 2007 and 2016, and returned for the BBC show's 35h anniversary in August 2021.

And despite most recently appearing as a police detective in ITV drama The Pembrokeshire Murders alongside Luke Evans last year, the Welsh actor can still be found working behind the counter of his family shop, Dale's Music on Tenby High Street.

Dale said: "I try and do different things and I think that has hampered my career to a certain degree. Because they do like to put you in boxes and if you can find a niche and sit in it that can do you quite a lot of good."

While he is due to appear in upcoming BBC drama Sherwood, alongside Lesley Manville and David Morrissey later this year, Dale admits his acting roles are fairly quiet at the moment.

He added: "It's just as well really. I've got shop to run."

Dale is one of many soap actors to balance a 'normal' job alongside his acting career.

Last year it was revealed EastEnders star Charlie Clements was working in a garden centre to make ends meet during the coronavirus pandemic.

Fellow EastEnders star Katie Jarvis, who played Hayley Slater in the BBC soap between February 2018 and February 2019, was 'job-shamed' for working as a security guard at B&M Bargains in east London in 2019.

Read more: EastEnders star Charlie Clements aka Bradley Branning got job in a garden centre

Grange Hill star Lee MacDonald — best known for playing Zammo McGuire in the hit 80s TV show — runs his own locksmith business in Surrey.

And Sean Wilson, who played Corrie's Martin Platt for 20 years, is now an established cheesemaker.

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