Charlie Condou wasn\'t "embarrassed" about working as a waiter after \'Coronation Street\'.
The 47-year-old star - who had three years away from the cobbles in between stints as Marcus Dent before leaving in 2014 - has opened up about life as a professional actor, and revealed he had no reservations about his time at \'Great British Menu\' host Andi Oliver\'s restaurant to tide him over between jobs.
Speaking on ITV\'s \'Loose Women\' on Wednesday (08.01.20), he said: "Sometimes you can go off and get loads of work and it\'s all great, and other times you have periods of not working.
"It wasn\'t terrible - there\'s nothing wrong with it. People said to me, \'Are you embarrassed?\' And I said, \'no\'... I loved it, I was working with my mate."
Charlie explained that acting roles had simple dried up for a short period, which meant he was happy to take the offer to support his family.
He doesn\'t see it as a big issue, and pointed out a misunderstanding from the public who sometimes believe TV stars earn more money than they actually do.
He added: "There\'s this misconception - we make nice enough money, but not enough money to not work. I didn\'t want to sign on. I think signing on is for people who don\'t have any options - I had options."
And while Charlie has joined the cast of BBC medical drama \'Holby City\' as Dr. Ben Sherwood, he admitted he would always be up for a \'Corrie\' comeback if the opportunity presented itself.
Talking about his 2014 exit, he said: "They didn\'t kill me off, no. They were very nice actually. When I said I wanted to leave, they said the door\'s always open. So, if anyone asked me, yeah - I\'d totally go back."
