ITV Coronation Street's Alan Halsall sends 'I love you' message to co-star

Coronation Street star Alan Halsall has issued a special tribute to his co-star Simon Gregson on a special day for the actor. Simon Gregson first appeared on the Corrie cobbles more than three decades ago as Steve McDonald in 1989 and over the years has become a fan favourite.

Today, Simon is celebrating a special milestone as it is his 50th birthday. Friend and colleague Alan Halsall took to social media to send Simon a heartfelt message. The image showed Simon lifting Alan up with the caption: ''How on earth you've made it to 50, I'll never know!!''

He continued: ''But I'm bloody glad you have, I love you mate.'' The Tyrone Dobbs actor has also been a longstanding member of the Coronation Street playing the role for over 20 years.

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Speaking to the ECHO in August, Alan lifted the lid on his Coronation Street "deal breaker" as he jokingly shared the Liverpool development he flat out refused to do. Tyrone's onscreen biological mum is played by Claire Sweeney and the character has strong Scouse roots as he was introduced to the show as the son of Jackie Dobbs, played by Liverpool legend, Margi Clarke.

Away from the screen, Alan is actually a massive Manchester United fan and joked how he pushed back on a pitch from a writer about the character's Merseyside ties. Talking about his character Tyrone, Alan jokingly commented: ''I'm glad he's a Weathy County fan.''

Tyrone continues to be one of the soap's most important characters and is often at the centre of the action. This summer saw old flame, Alina Pop, return to Weatherfield which led fans to believe it would disrupt his settled marriage with Fiz Dobbs, played by Jennie McAlpine.

Alan's co-star, Simon Gregson recently opened up on the 'People are Deep' podcast that he was coming to terms with his mental health struggles. He said: "It was only years later (after he first started experiencing mental health issues), in about 2015 when I got a therapist and I started talking, that I realised it was okay not to be okay."

He explained he had previously turned to unhealthy habits to cope, adding: "It never became a problem. I mean, in the eyes of family and friends they may say it was a problem, but I never deemed it as a problem. Although, looking back, it was crazy how we got through, but yeah, the money was coming in and the parties carried on,"

He paid tribute to his wife for being a big catalyst in changing his old habits, saying: "When I met my wife, things seemed to get a lot better from there as well, because she was like, 'you ain't drinking that much and being with me'".