Yahoo News Ryan Thomas 'emotional' as goes back to 'most important time' with mum at Coronation Street as he remembers it
Ryan Thomas was left feeling emotional as he headed to a birthday party which actually transported him back to what he says was the 'most important time' in his young life. The actor is famed for having played Jason Grimshaw in Coronation Street for 16 years from 2000 to 2016.
He was the son of Eileen Grimshaw, played by Sue Cleaver, and the pair spent more than a decade on the cobbles together as mum and son until Ryan quit the soap almost ten years ago.
Since his exit from Corrie, Ryan has appeared in panto, featured in Australian soap opera Neighbours, won Celebrity Big Brother and took part The Games and Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls, where he met his now fiancée Lucy Mecklenburgh. He most recently, however, won Dancing on Ice with his daughter Scarlett, who he shares with Corrie actress ex Tina O'Brien, being the one who wanted him to do the show.
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But it seems Ryan has been reminded of his time on the famous cobbles - or at least where they once were. Corrie used to call the Granada Studios, based in an area between Quay Street and Liverpool Road, from 1982 until its move in 2014. Ten years ago, the famous set relocated to Trafford, part of the MediaCity UK site.
It took two years from start to finish to recreate the iconic Street and it has since been expanded, first was the extension of the Victoria Street set before the set was further expanded in March 2022, with the addition of the Weatherfield Precinct, which took six months to build, and was inspired by Salford.
But part of the former site, which depicted Weatherfield's own hospital to be exact, has since been turned into a bar, called The Stables, and that's where Ryan headed for a bash alongside his mum Gail and the pair were able to take a trip down - a cobbled - memory lane.
Taking to his Instagram Story, the 40-year-old filmed himself around the still familiar-looking area and said: "This is the first time I've been back here in probably 10 years and I'm at a friend's 70th at what is now a pub, it was the hospital and there was my house, there was the green room and right here was the Rovers," as he pointed around different areas.
"My head's gone," he admitted. "I'm stood here with my mum and I haven't been here in 10 years. What is going on? Where's it gone? This was the street! This was Coronation Street. Mad!" Gail also chipped in that it was "mad" seeing the area as it is now. "Ryan's upbringing was here," she added as her eldest son said: "My head's gone!"
He also wrote alongside the clip: "I got invited to a friend's 70th in Manchester last week, I had no idea it was going to be in the old medical centre of the original Coronation Street. This is where the most important time of my life all started. Makes me emotional coming back here. I would not be where I am today without this magical place growing up."
Ryan added: "To be here with my mum makes it even more special @gail.rebecca." The former soap star also shared a photo as he pointed at where Jason's home, No.11 Coronation Street, used to be and acknowledged the tall building behind him: "Top of this building is where I did my audition for Jason... now the new Soho House in Manchester."
