Emmerdale’s Tony Audenshaw says co-star ‘hated’ him before he was ‘sacked’

legend Tony Audenshaw claims one of his co-stars “hated” him while they were starring together.

The 60-year-old actor, best known for playing Bob Hope in the soap, started out his career as a stage entertainer before making it big in the world of soaps when he landed his role as PC Ian Coban in Brookside.

During those early days of his career, Tony went under his real name – Tony Hall – and started out as a children’s entertainer at Thorpe Park in Surrey. He even slept in his car outside the theme park as he couldn’t afford to rent accommodation.

Part of his role was acting as the warm-up for the park’s stunt show to settle the audience in – until he found the “perfect” man to replace him.

But things quickly went downhill, with Tony telling The Making of Thorpe Park author Chris Atkinson: “This guy was absolutely brilliant, a performer like Bill Murray – you just had to look at him and you’d laugh.

“We originally offered him a job as he was ace as an Italian policeman but unbeknownst to me, he hated the act, he hated me, and decided to just talk about Italian politics with people, so he ended up getting sacked!”

It’s not the only major revelation the actor made in the book, as he also recounted meeting a young when his mum brought him to enjoy the rides with his brother

He recalled an in-character exchange in which Tony asked: “What’s your name, young man?” with William responding, before Tony quipped: “Funny, that’s my mother’s name!”

Tony hasn’t kept his theme park past a secret. He admitted on : “I used to work at Thorpe Park, the theme park, I used to be the Thorpe Park Rangers and do the voices. Up north things are much cheaper. I came down here in the 80s, and it was £70 for a B&B. If I was down for five nights I would sleep in the car, because I didn’t have much money coming in.”