MUGGING Audrey Roberts and being a bad influence on Simon Barlow.

It is all in a day’s work for former Sir John Deane's student Will Barnett, who admitted he is still finding it quite strange adjusting to life on the UK’s biggest soap.

Fresh out of National Youth Theatre, Will, from Grappenhall Heys, plays Tyler Jeffries in Coronation Street. The 18-year-old made his debut as a young ne’er-do-well in March and he will be filming more episodes in June so we should see him on our screens for at least the next few months.

Will told Weekend: “It’s still really quite weird to be honest. I just see it as going and doing what I love rather than being blown away that I’m on the biggest soap.

“But I was a little taken aback when my dentist said she saw me on Corrie and when I’m out in Stockton Heath some people have come up to me about it.

“I’m really passionate about it but I just try and look at it as a job.

“For example when I’m talking to David Neilson, who plays Roy Cropper, I try to think of him as a fellow actor.

“But in the back of my mind I’m thinking: ‘Oh my god, I’m talking to this guy’. You try to keep a lid on it. You try and keep your excitement to a minimum.”

That was far from the case on Will’s first day on set though.

The former Bridgewater High student said: “It was really funny actually because on the first day that I was filming we were stood having a briefing for the scene.

“I’d just walked onto the set, I was just talking to a couple of the actors and I turned around and the Rovers was there.

“I said: ‘Oh god, that’s the pub’. They were all laughing and saying: ‘You’ll get used to that eventually’.

“The first couple of times that I went on set I was apprehensive because I didn’t know what they were going to think of me.

“But now when I go there I’ll sit in the green room and have chats with all of the actors.

“I get on really well with Alex Bain who plays Simon Barlow. It’s a nice environment to work in.”

Will’s first appearance in Corrie was a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo but it meant the world.

He added: “We had a little party with the family and a couple of friends around. We basically sat down and watched the episode with some food and drink.

“For my first episode, I was literally in it for a split second. I rode past on a bike and I had my hood up. Everyone was like: ‘I didn’t even see you’. We were all having a bit of a laugh about it “At first I didn’t want people coming round for the first episode because I’m barely in it.

“But my stepdad said: ‘It’s not about being on telly, it’s about celebrating this new chapter in your life. It could take off into something huge’.”

It already has if you count soap infamy. The nation’s main introduction to Will’s character Tyler was him mugging one of the programme’s icons Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls).

Will, who was inspired to become an actor by Jim Carrey’s 90s films like The Mask, said: “I felt so bad. The day before we filmed that scene I met her for the first time and she was so sweet.

“She said: ‘I don’t believe we’ve met before. Would you like a cup of tea?’ I thought: ‘I’m going to mug you tomorrow and you’re offering me a cup of tea’.

“When the episode went live my mates were calling me horrible. I do jui-jitsu at Gracie Barra in town and all the lads were joking that they were going to batter me.

“No one takes it to heart but I would have rather done something a little different to break the ice.

“Last year I was in a National Youth Theatre production where I played a swanky newsagent and wheeler dealer that sold porn with his newspapers. The year before that I was doing a college production where I played an angry teenager – so I seem to attract angry, mean roles quite often!”