One soap star was sacked from their role on the cobbles after 35 years for an “outrageous” reason.
Matthew Davidge worked as an extra on but was axed from his decades-long role as a background character when star Andi Peters visited the set, and Matthew decided to snap a selfie with him.
A spokesperson explained that Matthew had breached filming protocols, necessitating action be taken – but Andi wasn’t aware of any complaints.
Now both Matthew and Hollyoaks extra Chloe Bernard have opened up about their experiences on set, explaining they sometimes had to work for 11 hours despite episodes only being around 25 minutes in length.
Matthew sometimes waited around for around 11 hours to be in the background of a scene, while Chloe was needed on set by 8am each day just to be told if she was required for any background work.
Coronation Street saw one star sacked after 35 years (Image: Getty)
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She said: “You’d be sat in the canteen with the other extras, chatting, and then producers will just call up random people for scenes, depending on who was needed. Sometimes you could be waiting for a few hours, sometimes all day. It was really just dependent on what scenes they were filming.”
Soap extras make anywhere from £90 to £200 a day – before their agents take a cut. Depending on how many episodes extras are used in, more money can be made each day, but Matthew ended up taking home £70 for a day’s work after his agency fee.
Chloe, meanwhile, earned up to £200 a day in Hollyoaks based on an hourly wage.
A chance encounter with This Morning’s Andi Peters lead to one extra’s sacking (Image: Getty)
The pair also revealed they usually have to bring their own clothes, but aren’t allowed to wear anything that might distract audiences from the main cast of characters. If the role requires something more specific, extras will be given costumes – for example in prison scenes, when they’ll be handed an inmate’s outfit, or a hospital gown for medical scenes.
It can often be a case of sitting around and resetting for take after take – and Chloe confessed she was once so hungover that her gurgling stomach ruined a take.
She said: “There was another time when we were all filming the big reveal of Patrick Blake [Jeremy Sheffield] being evil in the pub, and we had to all look really aghast and horrified, gasping.
“It was dead silent, and I was so hungover, so my stomach started gurgling really loudly like I was going to throw up.”