Rob Mallard would love to 'play the villain' on Coronation Street

Rob Mallard would love to "play the villain" on 'Coronation Street.'

The 30-year-old actor has starred as teacher Daniel Osbourne - the long-lost son of longest-serving character Ken Barlow - on the ITV soap since 2016 and admitted that while he would "love" for his character to take a dark turn, explained it was a "swift way" to be written out of the show.

He said: "I'd love to play the villain, but that is a very swift road out of the show isn't it? So no, not from that perspective but with the fun they seem to have being villains though, definitely!"

Rob was previously involved in a high-profile storyline that saw Daniel's girlfriend Sinead Tinker - played by Katie McGlynn - diagnosed with and eventually succumb to cervical cancer, but his character is now dating Rovers Return barmaid Daisy Midgeley, and although he hopes the pair will stick together, predicted that the "malicious" writers will intervene.

He told The Daily Mirror newspaper: "I hope [they stay together], and I hope that they have a little family unit with each other, but I think the writers are a bit more malicious than that so they are probably going to put them through a bit of pain first!"

However, the soap star - who is currently single but previously dated co-star Daniel Brocklebank - admitted that he loves the "high drama" of working on soap and also hopes that his character's ex-girlfriend Nicky Wheatley would be back on the cobbles soon to reignite the "love triangle."

He said: "I love it. That's all the high drama. In real life you want everything to go smoothly, but in drama, you don't because there is no drama otherwise is there? I really hope [Nicky returns] because me and Kimberly [Hart-Simpson] get on off-screen, and the love triangle between Nicky, Daisy, and Daniel is a lot of fun to play. I thought it would have been interesting if they put Nicky behind the bar with Daisy. I thought that might have had some legs to it but I hope she comes back!"